Sadly the governments of Queensland and Australia offer tax dollars to the criminal alcohol industry: thousands and millions of your tax dollars are wasted.
Surely there are more creative ways to promote tourism without the poor taxpayers forced to underwrite the fortunes of the destructive alcohol industry.
“Funding will support plans to get Central Western Queensland (CWQ) Brewing up and running so locals and visitors can enjoy beers named after some of the region’s great towns.”
“The government will provide $90,000 to further develop CWQ Brewing’s beer brand designs and an investment plan to establish a regionally-owned manufacturing company.”
(Hon. Dr. Steven Miles, “Funding brews up a thirst for Outback opportunities”, Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory, 26 May 2022.)
“The Queensland Palaszczuk Government is investing $1.1 million over five years to deliver Australia’s first BrewLab, where Aussie craft brewers can test their products.”
(Doris Prodanovic, “Cheers to new Queensland craft beer lab”, Food & Drink Business, 21 Nov. 2019.)
“Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged $20 million to assist breweries, wineries and distilleries if the Coalition government is re-elected, in a bid to boost domestic tourism.”
(“PM pledges $20m for breweries and wineries in bid to boost domestic tourism”, Sky News, 7 May 2022.)
Stephen Ferguson (chief executive of the Australian Hotels Association) met with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, trying to get him to reduce the beer tax by half in the 2022 federal budget.
The alcohol industry must quit pretending it somehow helps Australia’s economy. It costs Australians much more.
“…the societal costs of alcohol (eg in this case direct costs) outweigh the revenue generated from alcohol taxation by a ratio of 2:1. That is, the direct societal costs of alcohol, estimated to be approximately $14.352b (2010 dollars), are more than double that received by the Commonwealth ($7.075b) in total tax revenue in 2010. This estimate includes costs to the criminal justice system, costs to the health system, costs resulting from lost productivity and costs included with respect to alcohol-related road accidents. As stated above, this estimate does not include the indirect costs such as pain and suffering, which could conceivably more than double this estimate…”
(Manning M., Smith C. & Mazerolle P., “The societal costs of alcohol misuse in Australia”, Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 454. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2 Apr. 2013)
Legal crime is crime nonetheless. The taxpayers of Australia have every right to demand governments will never again fund the destructive alcohol industry which causes the unjustified pain and suffering of many Australians.