Government Protects Virtue

[A_Wanderer]

Wonderful that they are banishing tart fuel to maintain standards in society, just like they took the initiative to censor the internet (which they can't really do... yet)

The Rudd government overnight reversed the change, virtually doubling the excise on alcopops from midnight, pushing the cost of the drinks up by between 30 cents and $1.30 a bottle.

"We can track the change in the way that young women have been drinking these products from the time that the Howard government changed the excise in 2000," Ms Roxon told the Nine Network.

"We've seen patterns where it's gone from about 14 per cent of young girls drinking these products up to about 60 per cent.

"So, this is an explosion that we think needs to be tackled ... We have a problem that must be turned around and this is the place where we're starting."

Ms Roxon said she did not know why the Howard government had cut the excise in the first place.

"I think the previous government is partly responsible. I think they made a mistake. We're going to turn that around," she said.

"I don't know if it was pressure from lobbying, I don't know if they just made a mistake, but we've started to see the social consequences and we're not going to just stand by and let that keep happening."

Under the changes, which came into effect at midnight, excise on alcopops will rise from $39 a litre of pure alcohol to $67, putting them on an equal footing with bottled spirits.

"It means that if you buy a Bacardi Breezer or a vodka and orange that's already premixed, you will be charged the same excise as if you bought that alcohol as a spirit and mixed it yourself," Ms Roxon said.

"Now that's sensible. We don't want there to be an extra price incentive to buy these products."

The price rise would be a significant deterrent to many young people, she said.

"We've got research that shows that young people are price sensitive and if that means that this is a deterrent then that will be a really successful measure on our part," she said.

The move will bring in an estimated $2 billion a year to the government, much of which will be spent on preventative health policies.

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And the slippery slope begins (yada yada yada)

THE Rudd Government's chief adviser on preventive health has called for an increase to the excise on tobacco of 2.5 cents a cigarette, which could raise $400 million a year on top of the $500 million to be raised from the increased excise on "alcopops".

Rob Moodie, who chairs the National Preventative Health Taskforce, said the increased excise on ready-mixed spirits - imposed at the weekend to fight teenage binge drinking - was "terrific" and should be extended to cigarettes.

"Using taxation or pricing as a lever for reducing harmful consumption is a really good idea," Dr Moodie told the Herald.

He said Australians were very sensitive to price rises, and increasing the excise by 2.5 cents a cigarette would reduce consumption by about 3 per cent.

"There is certainly room to move [and] this issue will certainly come up in the taskforce," Dr Moodie said.

The Government has raised the excise on drinks such as Bacardi Breezers and Vodka Cruisers from $39 per litre of pure alcohol to $67, adding as much as $1.30 to a bottle.

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Hopefully they can take this war on drugs to it's logical conclusion with proper prohibition.

[Kieran McConville]

Don't worry, it's only mixed drinks. Gotta keep the kids in line, you know.

Now, whereas, the fine wines that the likes of myself enjoy, civilised folks like myself, we'll be fine.

I'd love to see an Australian government try prohibition. I know we're led to believe that today's society is increasingly intolerant and increasingly receptive to some good hard regulation, but I'd love to see the government just try prohibition. I think (and it's not a party thing, both parties are infested with this sort), sooner or later someone will be silly enough to do so.

[A_Wanderer]

^ Over-regulation is always bipartisan; it's just that with an aging population and family first votes floating around it becomes that much more rational to go after some of the simple pleasures (booze, smokes, blasphemy and internet porn).

I personally love the way that the stats are presented, going from 16% to 60% + "an explosion"; it seems more like the premixes garnering the market share previously taken up by goon and stones original green ginger wine.

There was another article about the urgent need to get Nuerofen plus onto prescription for the 12.8mg of codeine each tablet contains, the stuff is the moral equivalent of heroin apparently. All it takes is some moron to down 30 paracetamol or asparin to get high for this stuff to kick into a ban. Pity the poor migraine suffers.

[the iron horse]

The Food Police blanket a lot of things today.

We love our No Smoking areas...

[A_Wanderer]

Cocksuckers

A 300 PER CENT increase in beer and wine taxes is being proposed by the Rudd Government's new preventive health taskforce as families battle rising petrol, grocery and mortgage prices.

The call follows the surprise weekend announcement of a 70 per cent tax hike on spirit-based alcopop drinks to combat teenage binge drinking.

Australian General Practice Network chief Kate Carnell yesterday became the second member of the Rudd Government's new National Preventive Health Taskforce to call for punitive new health taxes.

"We believe the liquor excise should be the based on alcohol content not what the drink looks like," Ms Carnell said.

Currently beer and wine are taxed less heavily than spirits.

A uniform alcohol tax rate would increase the cost of a beer by 46¢ and bottled wine by 63¢ a glass.

Taskforce chairman Rob Moodie has previously called for a 2.5¢-per-cigarette rise in the tax on cigarettes to raise $400 million a year for anti-smoking measures.

The suggestions come as Kevin Rudd has ramped up his warnings about the federal Budget, saying the process has been as "tough as all hell" as Cabinet yesterday considered massive spending cuts.

The Prime Minister and his leadership team were locked in a marathon Cabinet Budget session yesterday finalising spending reductions of more than $3 billion for next financial year.

Another series of high-level meetings today in Canberra is expected to formalise the tough measures to be unveiled on May 13.

In a short break from the Cabinet room yesterday, Mr Rudd indicated people should brace themselves for a hardline economic statement on Budget night.

The warning came just days after Mr Swan foreshadowed that the Budget would slash programs inherited from the Howard government.

It is expected major programs in health, defence and social security will be slashed and there will be job cuts to the Canberra bureaucracy.

However Mr Rudd said the Government would do its best to protect low and middle-income earners from Budget fallout.

Mr Rudd said the rising cost of living was one of the prime reasons the Government pushed ahead with $31 billion worth of tax cuts that start on July 1.

A person on an average wage of $50,000 will be almost $20 a week better off under the tax cuts from July. Modelling has shown families on average incomes with very young children will be almost $136 a week better off after the combined impact of tax cuts and the 50 per cent childcare rebate.

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Theiving christian pigs, it already costs over 40 bucks for a bottle of Chivas or Glenlivet and if this mentality continues it may well become dearer.

If they want to practice abstinence from drugs and alcohol let them, but using government force to coerce the rest is ethically unsound.

On the plus side the price point tips so it is cheaper to just use illegal drugs

Time to start up a still and a meth lab.

All this stuff is exasperating; porn, violence in media, guns, alcohol, gay marriage, codeine - all getting banned or blocked - is there no fun to be had anymore?

[thatsnotmypuppy]

Originally posted by A_Wanderer
All this stuff is exasperating; porn, violence in media, guns, alcohol, gay marriage, codeine - all getting banned or blocked - is there no fun to be had anymore? [/B]

I can still get to the porn.

As long as Sam Newman is alive the chance of violence in media is high - if you mean censorship they didn't censor anything out of Terminator when it was on recently. And the episodes of Underbelly I downloaded (damn you stupid Victorian legal system!) were pretty full on!

Guns have been a big no-no since Martin Bryant went shot happy Tassie style. Can't blame that on Rudd.

Alcohol - well the answer to that quandry is blatantly obvious - all the kids should become accountants and get that tax back! Use the system to beat it, yada yada.

Gay marriage - I never hear dthat Rudd and co were planning on allowing gay marriage. I agree civil unions should be recognised. Hopefully Vic or WA will just do it at a state level soon.

Codeine - I'm stockpiling Nurofen Plus now. I'm gonna make me some eBay money!

[anitram]

What the hell is an alcopop? Is it that disgusting stuff like Mike's hard lemonade and those awful Smirnoff drinks?

Anybody buying those should be taxed extra on account of poor taste.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by anitram
What the hell is an alcopop? Is it that disgusting stuff like Mike's hard lemonade and those awful Smirnoff drinks?

Anybody buying those should be taxed extra on account of poor taste.

those drinks are for the high school crowd.

(and the makers know that)