The National Alliance for Action on Alcohol (NAAA) submission to the Competition Policy Review, and complimentary letter of support from FARE, note that alcohol is no ordinary commodity and urges the review to ensure that there is no further relaxation of the current controls that limit the sale, supply and consumption of alcohol.
Recommendations
The National Alliance for Action on Alcohol (NAAA) submission reinforces four main points:
- Alcohol is not an ordinary commodity; it is a product that causes significant harms and costs to the community.
- The benefits as a whole from regulating access to alcohol outweigh the costs of reducing competition in the market that supplies alcohol.
- Regulating access to alcohol with the objective of minimising harm can only be achieved by restricting the economic and physical availability of alcohol. This justifies the controls that may otherwise be seen as anti-competitive.
- Alcohol should be considered in the same category as other harmful products such as tobacco where restrictions which limit competition are rightly, justified in the interests of public health.
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) agrees with the points made by the alliance and prepared a letter in support of the NAAA submission.
