ABC 891
28 Mar 2012
Transcipt SUBJECTS: Alcohol floor price in NT; Dale Baker
E&OE……………
Ian Henscke: What is the Federal Government’s view, if you got to power, on the floor price of alcohol? If you were in power again what would you do?
Christopher Pyne: When we were last in power Ian I was the Parliamentary Secretary for Health or the Junior Minister for Health, if you like and had responsibility for alcohol and I conducted a study through Flinders University about introducing a floor price on alcohol in the Northern Territory because amazingly, your listeners would be shocked to discover that some supermarket owners in the Northern Territory loss-lead with alcohol. In other words they make a loss on alcohol products in order to bring people into the store and attract them to other products including other alcohol products. So in fact they’re prepared to undercut the price of the alcohol they pay for in order to attract people into their store to purchase alcohol. I think that is reprehensible and at the time the Labor Party opposed this. I note that when Nicola Roxon was the Minister for Health, she started talking about a floor price in the Northern Territory. I’m not sure where they ended up in terms of a policy on that, but I think it is an idea that has arrived, an idea whose time has come.
Henscke: So if you get back into Government under Tony Abbott, this will be a policy? You will have a floor price for alcohol in the Northern Territory, but not in the other states?
Pyne: I’m not saying that. This is my personal view about what should happen in the Northern Territory. I know that Nigel Scullion, who’s the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs is monitoring this policy and discussing it with community leaders in the Northern Territory.
Henscke: Alright, well just quickly Christopher Pyne because this is really just an update on a story a bit earlier in the day because the British Government has brought it in, in their region. Clearly they believe there is a problem across all of their society. Why wouldn’t you, if you think it’s fair enough to bring it in for indigenous people, you would do it for – I suppose there’s plenty of white people with a drinking problem up in the Northern Territory as well. They seem to be all over the place with drinking problems. Why not do it across the country if you’re concerned about the health of the nation?
Pyne: Well, that’s a good question. In the Northern Territory it is subject to commonwealth control and as a consequence the commonwealth could introduce such a floor price for alcohol whereas the states manage the rest of the country.
Henscke: So we couldn’t do it even if we wanted to?
Pyne: Well, the states could, but the commonwealth couldn’t implement it here. The commonwealth could certainly implement it in the Northern Territory and I am an enthusiastic supporter for a floor price for alcohol in the Northern Territory. Whether Nigel Scullion our Shadow Minister in that same space is a matter for the next few months of policy development, but that’s exactly what we’re doing now; having a policy process and my view is this is an idea whose time has come and we have to take drastic action.
Henscke: Christopher Pyne, Member for Sturt, Shadow Minister for Education and Manger of Opposition Business. Just before you leave us Christopher Pyne the news has come through that Dale Baker has died of motor neuron disease. 20 years ago he was set to become the Premier of South Australia when he led the Opposition in this state. It looked like he would – you know “Blind Freddy” or a “drovers dog” or whatever could have won that election, but he never got there did he? What are your memories?
Pyne: Well, Dale Baker was a very good South Australian and a very good Liberal. He was a member of parliament for a lengthy period of time in the seat of Mackillop in the south east of South Australia. He was leader of the Opposition from 1990 to 1992 and then he was a minister in the Brown Government and he’s made a great contribution, especially in rural politics and agri-politics in South Australia. He’ll be very fondly remembered by many people and obviously as the senior South Australian Liberal I send my condolences to his family and he’s gone far too young. He was not an old man. He was born in 1939 and it’s sad when such a great person is taken through such a debilitating disease.
Henscke: And you do remind us that he was Leader of the Opposition just before and during that State Bank Royal Commission. He was almost set to become leader of the state at one stage wasn’t he?
Pyne: That’s right. Dale exposed the State Bank issues to do with the Bannon Government in the early 1990s. He began that process. He took over after John Olsen retired from State Parliament and as is often the case in politics unfortunately didn’t make it through to the 1993 election, but laid the groundwork for Dean Brown’s massive, historic, landslide victory in 1993 through holding the Government to account and then was a very successful minister in the Brown Government; the Minister for Mines and Energy and Primary Industries.
ENDS