Alco-pop tax 'completely fails' in Darwin
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The Government has hit back at claims that a tax on alco-pops is not working. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin, file photo)
The Distilled Spirits Industry Council says the Federal Government's "alco-pop" tax trial has completely failed to reduce binge drinking in Darwin.
The council surveyed 15 local bottle shop owners and were told that 80 per cent of pre-mixed drink consumers have just switched to other types of alcohol.
The council's information and research manager, Stephen Riden, says the survey is proof that higher taxes are not the solution for the nation's binge drinking problems.
He says more effort needs to be directed towards changing drinking habits in the home.
"Children absorb parents drinking habits and we need to bring that to the fore.
"A lot of people won't smoke in front of their kids and they won't swear - not deliberately - in front of them.
"We need to say 'What do you think being drunk with your mates in front of your kids is doing to your kids?'."
But the Territory's Labor Senator, Trish Crossin, has hit back at the alcohol industry, accusing it of mounting a dangerous campaign to undermine the Federal anti-binge drinking measures.
Ms Crossin says the council's claims about pre-mixed sales are self-serving, and are at odds with figures from the Australian Taxation Office that indicate a drop in sales nationally.
"Binge drinking is actually a community-wide problem and it actually demands a community-wide response.
"What we have here and what we're concerned about is the industry actually running a very misleading campaign against our alco-pop measures, and a campaign that is really more interested in protecting their profits."
