Draft strategy proposes radical plan to boost booze prices

ALCOHOL prices could skyrocket under a drastic new strategy to curb Australia’s drinking problem.

A new proposal could see the end of cheap booze prices. Picture: Josie Hayden Do you have an alcohol problem?

WINE lovers and young drinkers would be hardest hit by a government proposal to increase booze prices.

A draft strategy released by federal government ministers, which aims to significantly reduce Australians’ alcohol consumption, has recommended a “minimum floor price” for alcohol.

The pricing plan would prevent the cost of all alcoholic drinks from dropping below set prices, with those in the industry expecting a base price of $1.50 per standard drink, the Herald Sun reports.

They expect this would translate into jumps in the cost of some of Australia’s most popular drinks, including a cask of wine skyrocketing from about $10 to $45, a slab of beer rising from about $47 to over $50, and a budget bottle of sparkling wine costing $10, up from $7.

A humble box of wine could set you back upwards of $45

The report said there was “good evidence” that higher alcohol prices would decrease alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms, while lower prices increase both.

“This effect is seen in overall consumption as well as in heavy or problem drinkers, and in harms to the drinker as well as to others,” the report reads.

“Evidence demonstrates that influencing the price of the cheapest drinks on the market by establishing a floor price has a larger impact on total consumption than does increasing the price of more expensive drinks, which tends to product shift in product preference.”

The report said research suggested younger people were “especially responsive to changes in alcohol price”.

“Increased alcohol prices have been shown to reduce the proportion of young people who are heavy drinkers, to reduce underage and binge drinking, to delay intentions among younger teenagers to start drinking and to slow progression towards drinking larger amounts,” it said.

Pricing and taxation changes were among key recommendations in the Consultation Draft National Alcohol Strategy

The draft National Alcohol Strategy was devised after three years of consultation by the Ministerial Drug and Alcohol Forum, chaired by Health Minister Greg Hunt, and published online last week.

The forum aims to finalise the strategy by March next year, and it would be up to state authorities if they wanted to take any of its recommendations on board.

Along with the pricing proposal, the strategy also suggested a new taxation scheme that would see drinks taxed on how much alcohol they contained, rather than which category they fall under. Currently, tax rates differ between wine, beer and spirits with wine drinkers paying the lowest tax.

The plan also recommended significant restriction on alcohol advertising, including banning promotion of discounted or low-priced alcohol, including “bulk-buys, two-for-one offers, shop-a-dockets and other promotions based on price”.