April 27, 2008
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has blamed the former Howard government for the rise in teenage binge drinking.
Ms Roxon said the decision to cut taxes on premixed alcoholic drinks eight years ago helped fuel the surge in excessive drinking by young people, particularly teenage girls.
The Rudd government overnight reversed the change, virtually doubling the excise on alcopops from midnight, pushing the cost of the drinks up by between 30 cents and $1.30 a bottle.
"We can track the change in the way that young women have been drinking these products from the time that the Howard government changed the excise in 2000," Ms Roxon told the Nine Network.
"We've seen patterns where it's gone from about 14 per cent of young girls drinking these products up to about 60 per cent.
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