A floor price for alcohol would prevent liquor companies from selling beverages below cost, according to a report prepared for the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
The report recommends that a range of measures - instead of individual, uncoordinated strategies - be used to tackle alcohol abuse in Australia.
The report, by Natacha Carragher and Jenny Chalmers of the University of NSW, said alcohol had become more affordable to average Australians over the past decade as income growth had outpaced inflation. It called for more research into the effects of alcohol promotions and discounting and backed minimum pricing.
''The alcohol industry does not incorporate taxation in the price of each and every alcohol product, as evidenced by sales of alcohol below cost, thus subverting the pricing signals of the tax system,'' the report said.
''This gives drinkers the opportunity to maintain harmful drinking practices by substituting away from higher priced tax inclusive products. A legislated minimum price would help circumvent this practice.''
The report said that public scepticism could be a barrier to winning support and implementing policies designed to curb harmful drinking, and policy must be communicated to the general public to help overcome misgivings and misunderstandings
''Policy makers must also be mindful of the potential unintended consequences of policies designed to reduce alcohol consumption, particularly younger people's substitution with illicit drugs.''
The report was issued as two public-health organisations called for a national plan to reduce foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which is the most common preventable cause of birth defects in Australia.
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education and the Public Health Association of Australia want a national public education campaign and mandatory health-warning labels on alcohol products.
The two organisations recommended the campaign and health warnings in a joint submission to a House of Representatives committee inquiry into foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
This reporter is on Twitter: @pjean01
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