Political party responses to FARE’s 2013 Election Platform: 10 ways to reduce alcohol harms

Researchers

Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education

Summary

On 4 July 2013 the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) wrote to the leaders of six political parties fielding candidates in the 2013 Federal Election, requesting responses to nine policy questions relating to FARE’s 2013 Election Platform: 10 ways to reduce alcohol harms. The following six parties were contacted by FARE: the Australian Labor Party (the ‘ALP’), the Liberal Party, the Australian Greens Party (the ‘Greens’), the National Party of Australia (the ‘Nationals’), the Democratic Labour Party, and Katter’s Australia Party.

1. The nine policy questions posed to the parties were:
2. Does your party support the development of a National Alcohol Strategy with clear actions and targets?
3. Does your party support a volumetric tax on wine and abolishing the taxpayer funded WET rebate?
4. Does your party support the adoption of a mandatory pregnancy warning label for alcohol?
5. Does your party support the development of a social marketing campaign to raise awareness of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol?
6. Does your party support fully implementing the Australian Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Action Plan?
7. Does your party support closing the loophole in the Commercial Television Code of Practice that allows alcohol advertising to be broadcast on television before 8.30pm as an accompaniment to live sporting events?
8. Does your party support phasing out alcohol industry sponsorship of sporting and cultural events?
9. Does your party support the provision of funding to improve the uptake of structured screening and brief interventions for alcohol among General Practitioners and primary healthcare professionals?
10. Does your party support the development a Code of Conduct on Government engagement with the alcohol industry which removes the alcohol industry from processes on the development of preventive health policy?

Outcomes

FARE received responses from the ALP, the Liberal Party, the Greens and the Nationals. The responses received from the Liberal Party came from the Coalition Campaign Headquarters. At the time of publication the Democratic Labour Party and Katter’s Australia Party had not provided FARE with responses.

Responses to the questions were then classified by FARE as a ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘unclear’ response.