The government’s Australian National Preventative Health Agency (ANPHA) is investigating whether legislation should be introduced to set a national floor price for alcohol sold in bars and hotels.
The ANHPA is conducting an enquiry into whether Australia should follow the lead of countries including Russia and Scotland in setting minimum pricing, in a bid to reduce alcohol-related violence and health conditions.
Russia introduced the measure as it is has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related injury in the world.
The ANPHA enquiry will not take into consideration the consumption taxes – most notably on ready to drink (RTD’s) aimed at younger consumers – as it is only concerned with preventative health
Representative bodies for the alcohol and hotel industries believe the ANHPA is overstepping its mark by entering into the price investigation.
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) has published a statement saying it believes there is no reason to believe the national minimum alcohol price would have any impact on preventative health, but it would have a significant negative impact on the hospitality industry and patrons of licensed venues.
There is an “absence of compelling evidence” that the suggested policy would reduce harmful drinking practices and “there is no justification for a national minimum alcohol price to be introduced in Australia.”
The AHA pointed to evidence which suggests the domestic wine industry and particularly hotels near wine regions would suffer the most, with less patrons and profits.
Aged pensioners, according to the AHA, would be hit hardest by minimum pricing as they are the major buyers of cask wine.
Overall, drink prices would be forced to rise as a result and the AHA believes the policy would be punishing moderate drinkers for the behaviour of harmful alcohol consumers.
The ANPHA, however, is assessing research conducted for the New South Wales government’s Bureau of Crime and Statistics, which suggests that increased alcohol prices and taxes may prove effective in reducing harmful alcohol consumption and subsequent injury or health problems.