Bob Katter takes aim at ‘restrict-everything’ brigade over alcohol prices

Rum-and-milk-drinking maverick Bob Katter is hoping to cure the ale-ments of beer-loving battlers.

Bob Katter enjoys a rum and milk at The Ville in Townsville.

Rum-and-milk-drinking maverick Bob Katter is hoping to cure the ale-ments of beer-loving battlers.

He has written to Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann asking them to freeze the planned alcohol tax increase due to kick in on August 3.

How much will prices go up? That’s TBC until the Australian Bureau of Statistics announces the consumer price index increase next week.

Cheers, Bob. Picture: Matt Taylor

Quiet Aussies may not realise it but the cost of a pig’s ear is upped automatically every six months. The last time was in February, when the tax jumped to $2.26 per litre. In a carton of 4.9 per cent beer that retails for $52, $22.05 is tax. The lager-than-life Katter says that’s un-Australian, given almost 500,000 hospitality workers have lost their jobs.

“I am sick and tired of the self-righteous, restrict-everything brigade who are pushing the higher taxes on alcohol,” the 74-year-old says. “It’s no wonder we have an increasingly high male suicide rate. The pub is a place you can get things off your chest and talk to mates, so it’s detrimental if going to the pub costs an arm and a leg.”

If you’re keen to track down Katter for a natter, we hear that he frequents the Ville in Townsville, the Leichhardt Hotel in Cloncurry, the Royal in Hughenden, the Tolga pub, the White Horse Tavern in Charters Towers and the Barron Valley Hotel.

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Shakes-beer

To tax or not to tax, that is the question. Strewth has been told the Morrison government’s not for turning on the alcohol excise. It thinks it is “appropriate”, given pubs can access JobKeeper. You know what they say — nothing compares to brew ($).

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) and the Head of the North Queensland Livestock Industry Recovery Agency Shane Stone enjoy a beer at the Cloncurry Bowls Club in May. Picture: AAP

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Pitcher perfect

When it goes ahead, this will be the 72nd increase to the alcohol tax in 35 years. The government pocketed an estimated $3.6bn from it last year.

Brewers Association of Australia CEO Brett Heffernan.

“At $2.26 per litre, Aussies already pay the fourth-highest beer tax in the industrialised world, then they pay another 10 per cent GST on top,” Brewers Association of Australia boss Brett Heffernan says.

“Forty-two per cent of the price of an Aussie-made stubby is tax … Australian drinkers are essentially shouting the taxman 10 of their 24 stubbies.” Craft-y! That makes tax the most expensive ingredient in Aussie froth Whitlams.

Meanwhile, Heffernan says: “Germany has deferred its beer tax from 13c to zero in response to COVID. The Brits froze their beer tax at $1.52.” It’s un-beer-lievable.

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Taste of victory

A Queensland Strewth reader spotted a surprising new sherbet when she ventured out for the first time this week — Perfectly Paced lager. Who’s behind it? Legendary Olympic gold-medal speed skater Steven Bradbury and friends Damien and Stephen Prosser (sons of rugby union great Roydon Prosser),who founded the Last Man Standing brewing company. More than 80 locations are stocking the beer — with a hare and tortoise (how appropriate) on the label — since its launch in January.

Co-Founders Damian Prosser, Steven Bradbury and Stephen Prosser. These blokes run our business and keep Last Man Standing Perfectly Paced Australian Lager in stockists across SEQLD. Thanks to everyone for their support! #lmsbrewing #lastmanstanding #keepinglocalalive #indiebeer pic.twitter.com/yPwAnJOdll

— LMS Brewing (@LmsBrewing) May 15, 2020

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Chick-mate

Would you try a chickpea cocktail? The hipster trend has hit the mainstream with Dry July. Mixologists say aquafaba — the canned chickpea liquid that’s typically poured down the drain — is the new “game changer” in the quarantini world as a substitute for egg whites in, for example, a vegan gin fizz. When shaken or mixed, the smell and taste apparently evaporate. We’re not convinced by bean-counters.

Celebrating #StPatricksDay and his nephew Lugnad who came to Cong in the 5th century, our in house mixologist @noliali has curated the “Stone of Lugnad” cocktail, a Method and Madness gin, violet liqueur, fresh lemon juice, demerara sugar and aquafaba! pic.twitter.com/dP1pnm0xZo

— Ashford Castle (@ashfordcastle) March 15, 2019

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Leaf them alone

The Australian Medical Association has sent a novel submission to Queensland’s COVID-19 inquiry.

SOMEBODY STOP HIM.

The doctors say Brisbane will be a safer, cleaner city by “ceasing the non-essential leaf and dust blowing in parks and streets”.

That’s right — banning leaf blowers.

“Blowers resuspend small particles, which remain airborne, exposing those nearby to the polluted air. In addition the excessive noise impacts on mental health.”

Sounds like hot air to us.

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Fowl play

Victoria’s Deputy Police Commissioner Rick Nugent has added a COVIDiot update to the state’s daily briefing.

“Clearly KFC is popular during the lockdown,” Nugent said. “A person attended a (KFC) restaurant and sat down with their food and refused to leave. Police were called and the person still refused to leave until they had finished their meal.”

Last Friday, cops fined 16 partygoers a total of $26,000 after they ordered buckets of fried chook. More than 350 people have been fined at massage parlours, sex-work premises and house parties. “We are finding people in cupboards, we are finding people in garages. Please stop,” Nugent said.

He added: “The restrictions for leaving your home are well known. I can say they don’t include playing Pokemon.”

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