Apr 27
rudd raises tax on premix drinks
Some of you will have heard that as of today the tax on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks has risen substantially. Since I work in the Liquor industry I thought I should come on here and voice my opinion.
Frankly this reeks of short sighted politics to me, now instead of buying those drinks kids will simply buy larger bottles of straight spirits, which no doubt pose more danger to kids.
If binge drinking is such a problem, then where are the parents, why are they not held accountable for their children. I see parents everyday come in and buy alcohol for their children, and everyday I must refuse them service which then leads to a big argument over the fact that they [the parents] think they have a right to buy their kids alcohol (which they don’t, its actually illegal in Victoria and strictly enforced).
The government turns around and tries to blame everyone for this problem, well I ask you this Mr Rudd, where are the police when kids are running in the streets, drunk and without supervision (happened Friday night in Dingley Village), why do the police simply give these kids a warning and let them continue their dangerous behaviour? Why weren’t parents called? and more importantly why wasn’t alcohol confiscated?
The reason is Mr Rudd your and Mr Brumby’s government fail to provide enough money for the effective enforcement of the law, you fail to provide suitable working conditions for your current police force and you aren’t increasing the size of the police force enough to be able to fix some of these problems.
And to Consumer Affairs Victoria (aka. Liquor Licensing), your also responsible, the signs you have warning parents about secondary purchase are pathetic, they are not very clear and far too small to have any impact. Why don’t you spend those nice taxes the federal government is now raising as of today on getting larger and more understandable signage, a public awareness campaign making parents aware that if they purchase alcohol for their children they are breaking the law and after that is done we will be able to spend the left over money on increasing the capacity of the Police force to respond to alcohol related incidents.
Finally we need legislation changed to create a blanket rule on underage drinking. At the present time it is perfectly legal for parents to order their children an alcoholic beverage if they are in a licensed establishment partaking in a meal, so why can they do this? Why this rule for restaurants and a different rule for liquor stores?
Frankly Mr Rudd I’m paying taxes on my income, on every thing I buy (GST) except fresh food, on alcohol, on petrol and with all this money you get from every working Australian, the best you can come up with raising taxes. I cannot wait to vote you out at the next election.
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You saying that you never drank underage?
Honestly, there is a level that “experimentation” must occur. But I totally agree that it must be under some sort of supervision from a sober adult. That adult could be an older friend, right up to a grandparent, but I believe that this person must be taken to be responsible.
I believe, as do many other responsible people, that people are admitted to “adult-hood” without any responsibility at all. Far too often we see people with children and we say to each other “why did the world let them pro-create?”
Basically; the problem come down to poor parenting at a young age (2 years onwards); where adaquate disipline has not been instated. And while “parenting classes” seem to be the government’s quick fix suggestion whenever the issue of poor parenting comes up, I do believe that parenting classes will not change society. Research has proven that the majority of parenting techniquies that a person employs are taken or modified directly from the same parenting that brought them up.
Hence, in some families, lack of disipline and control in underage teenagers will continue for many generations, even with compulsory parenting classes.
Possible solutions:
Mass murder; Hitler did it, so can we.
Responsibility exams; with levels determining how reponisible you are (sorta like a drivers license, but with more levels, and stronger probationary periods). People without adaquate responsibility levels are unable to purchase or participate in certain events or items until they get smart.
Society will notice a TREND with rosponsibility exams: people who end up arrested, in trouble, etc. will be far more likely to have a lower responisibility score.
Then again, people have always disagreed with my “perfect world” theories…
No I’m not saying I never drunk underage, but I am saying that my parents never went out and bought me whole bottles of vodka for a party. What I’m saying is we need some proper solutions, not just a tax hike. The government says it cares about the problem but it doesn’t seem to want to look into long term solutions, just quick fixes that I can tell you will ultimately back fire.
totally agree. its about time we actually addressed the reasons why underage binge drinking exists rather than trying to just make more money off it. also i’d like to just begin to gloat. it wasn’t easy being the lone voice against rudd but now the masses are beginning to see my way. ohh yea
“I cannot wait to vote you out at the next election.”
Isn’t this a bit of an extreme reaction to a minor issue, that probably doesn’t affect you much at all?
I don’t totally agree with Prime Minister Rudd’s approach to this, but we should reserve judgment until we see the numbers in a year or two.
Actually Abhinav, this ‘minor’ issue does greatly affect me, both in my personal and work life. What I’m trying to say is I’m sick of governments (both state and federal) coming up with short term solutions, when what we really need is good well thought out long term solutions.
kevin 07 baby!
But yer, price hikes won’t work. The cost isn’t the problem, it’s the system. The mindset of Australian people has to be changed before this issue can be solved. But don’t get me wrong, it’ll be a hard ask.