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Mixed message on binge drinking

By Jeremy Sammut - posted Monday, 5 May 2008

The tax hike on pre-mixed drinks will yield $500 million for the next four years.

That's a lot of money for a new Federal Government with election promises to keep and which is determined not to administer any harsh budgetary medicine.

The Health Minister herself has promised her cheer squad - preventive health groups and academics - that part of the extra revenue will go towards a new national preventive health agency.

But the tax is based on the false premise that the "little Kimmies" of Australian suburbia have been out there bingeing their brains out. This is far from the truth.

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First published in The Courier-Mail on April 30, 2008.

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About the Author

Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies. Jeremy has a PhD in history. His current research for the CIS focuses on ageing, new technology, and the sustainability of Medicare. Future research for the health programme will examine the role of preventative care in the health system and the management of public hospitals. His paper, A Streak of Hypocrisy: Reactions to the Global Financial Crisis and Generational Debt (PDF 494KB), was released by the CIS in December 2008. He is author of the report Fatally Flawed: the child protection crisis in Australia (PDF 341KB) published by the CIS in June 2009.