Shut 'em down

The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia has had its funding cut off by the Abbott government, effective immediately. This has naturally led to gnashing of teeth from the public health lobby and Labour politicians.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the decision to abolish the body beggars belief.

"It has decades of policy and advocacy experience in this sector," Ms King said in a statement.

What kind of "policy and advocacy" did this state-funded organisation do, exactly?

A flick through their press releases find them accusing John Farrell, a politician, of being "beholden to booze barons" because he failed to ban discounted alcohol. "Mr O’Farrell and his henchmen are not fit to govern," they claim.

We find them writing a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for "a complete ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship, a minimum price per alcohol unit, the requirement for one-third of alcohol labels to be reserved for health warnings, and increased alcohol taxes."

We find them cheering on the previous government's move to introduce plain packaging, saying that "no debate is needed about this legislation."

We find them saying that it is "incomprehensible" and "beyond belief" that Aldi supermarkets are allowed to sell alcohol.


Was all this political activism being carried out on the taxpayers' dollar? Absolutely. The organisation has immediately gone into administration now that the state has withdrawn its funding.

The Australian public should never have been forced to subsidise "policy and advocacy" in the first place. Abbott is quite right to shut it down.

Note how easy it is to get rid of these parasitic groups. All it takes is to stop writing the cheques. There's a bit of squealing for a few days and then they're gone. I hope politicians in the UK and paying attention.

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