Rafy
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http://www.theage.com.au/national/r...for-minimum-alcohol-price-20110607-1fr42.html
THE cost of some cask wine could quadruple, with Health Minister Nicola Roxon signing off on a plan to develop a nationwide minimum floor price for alcohol.
The National Preventive Health Agency has been asked to "develop the concept" as part of a plan approved by Ms Roxon but yet to be approved by her state counterparts.
The interim chief executive of the agency, Rhonda Galbally, said that while she wasn't at liberty to reveal everything in the strategic plan approved by Ms Roxon, she was prepared to confirm that it included developing the concept of a uniform alcohol floor price that would apply nationwide.
The floor price would operate separately from alcohol tax and would make it illegal for any retailer to sell alcohol below a certain price for a standard drink, allowing retailers and manufacturers to share any extra profit that accrued.
Prices of most drinks including beer would be unaffected because they were already above the likely floor price.
In Alice Springs, where Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been visiting Aboriginal town camps, John Boffa, of the Central Australian Aboriginal Health Congress, welcomed the move but said the Northern Territory shouldn't wait years for the result of Ms Roxon's review.
"We can cut self-harm, cut suicides and cut homicides by doing it now," he said.
Dr Boffa wants a floor price of $1.20 for a standard drink, about the price of a full-strength beer - well above the 30¢ a drink for cheap cask wine.
"It would send a simple message: the price of beer won't change, the price of spirits won't change because there are no spirits currently sold at less than $1.20 even when discounted, but what would change is the price of awful cask wine that no one other than young people and heavy drinkers go near."
Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson was yesterday unconvinced, telling a joint press conference with Ms Gillard he wanted to first examine the effect of sales restrictions due to come in on July 1.