Toping, not tax, on Nelson's agendaMark Metherell and Phillip Coorey
IT WAS a case of no one mention the war when Brendan Nelson opened his forum on teenage binge drinking at Parliament.
The Opposition Leader made it clear to the 20 or so alcohol interest-group representatives he was not expecting them to debate the issue that actually triggered the forum: the controversial 70 per cent tax increase on alcopops announced by the Government earlier this year.
In his opening remarks, Dr Nelson said he accepted that some of the leaders at the forum would back the Government's tax increase while others would oppose it. However, his "very strong view" was that there was a problem with alcohol abuse that was "overstated to some extent by various sections of the media and some people in public life".
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