1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: A research paper has been published showing the Northern Territories 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: alcohol floor price did not affect retailer's revenue while it 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: was in place. It was introduced back in twenty eighteen 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: and the floor price saw the banning of alcohol sales 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: below a dollar thirty per standard drink. As we know, 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: that was aimed to reduce alcohol related harm by making 7 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: cheap drinks less affordable and less accessible. I guess too now. 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: Research from four Australian universities tracked alcohol sales at two 9 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: major bottle shop chains across three years and found that 10 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,160 Speaker 1: cask wine sales fell dramatically, but those losses were made 11 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: up by the increased sale of spirits. Now joining me 12 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: on the line is research fellow at the National Drug 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,560 Speaker 1: Research Institute, doctor Nick Taylor. Good morning to you, Doctor Taylor. 14 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: Good morning Keaty. 15 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now what 16 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: exactly did this research look. 17 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 2: Into, so I'll be extra acted. Some retail sales data 18 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 2: from the three year evaluation of the alcohol flow price 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory and we wanted to see what 20 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 2: sort of impact the policy had on the industry. In 21 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 2: the end, we found that the industry industry revenues went 22 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 2: up by a small margin the year following the minimum 23 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 2: unit price, suggesting that it didn't really have a large impact. 24 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: So while you know that cheaper alcohol was less accessible 25 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: to everyday territory and so they were still getting their 26 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: hands on other alcohol, we. 27 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 2: Think it's actually more that there was an Australia wide 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 2: rise in expensive spirit sales at the time. So we 29 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 2: think that while cheap alcohol consumption certainly went down, there 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 2: was a nationwide boost in spirits sales, which seems to 31 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 2: have covered any losses the Northern territory would have experienced. 32 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 2: That being said, the margin between the cheap alcohol and 33 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 2: spirits is quite substantial. We think these were unique drinkers, 34 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 2: unique spirits drinkers, rather than those people who've been drinking 35 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 2: cask wine. 36 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: Yeah right, So you're saying other people were buying more 37 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: expensive spirits rather than those who might have usually been 38 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: purchasing cheaper wine. 39 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 2: That's right. There were many more other products around the 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 2: a dollar thirty mark that those drinkers would have more 41 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 2: likely moved to given the costs. When spirits are a 42 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 2: lot more expensive than the cask wine that they're essentially 43 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 2: disappeared from the shelves. 44 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: Now, tell me a little bit about why this research 45 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: was conducted. Why did you decide to get it underway 46 00:02:58,280 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: and have a look at the minimum unit. 47 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 2: Yes, so this is part of a series of research 48 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:10,399 Speaker 2: that we're doing to examine perhaps the unintended consequences of 49 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 2: this policy. And the alcohol industry, you know, in the 50 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 2: Northern Territory and in other jurisdictions, has discussed how this 51 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 2: kind of policy harms their business model, and so we 52 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 2: really wanted to see if the evidence showed that, and 53 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,519 Speaker 2: from what we can tell, it hasn't been a substantial 54 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:31,799 Speaker 2: harm to the alcohol industry at all. 55 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a really interesting one, I guess for 56 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: those of us, and I'm not one hundred percent sure 57 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: where you're based, but for those of us here in 58 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: different parts of the Northern Territory where when that minimum 59 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: unit price came into effect, it seemed like we sort 60 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: of went from seeing you know, like those cask wine 61 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: packets and things left around the place rubbish wise, to 62 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: literally seeing some of those much heavier spirit bottles, you know, 63 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: rubbish sort of littered around different public areas. So I 64 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: suppose for a lot of us listening, we're probably thinking 65 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's not a huge surprise. I guess 66 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: that those you know that the profits for the liquor 67 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: outlets didn't change. 68 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the spirit's one. Is an interesting question given 69 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 2: that it's Australia wide, So areas that didn't have this 70 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 2: policy saw the same rise and spirits failed as the 71 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 2: Northern Territory did. So it seems to be its own 72 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 2: independent trend. Spirits just seem to get really popular around 73 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 2: that period. 74 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: So what other like, what else did the did you like? 75 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: What other main findings did you did you uncover as 76 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 1: a result of this research. 77 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 2: So one of the things that I found particularly interesting 78 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 2: is it wasn't disclosed which retailers the starter came from 79 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,600 Speaker 2: in the government report. We found that it only really 80 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,360 Speaker 2: covered about thirty four percent of the alcohol that should 81 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:09,799 Speaker 2: have been sold in the Northern Territory. So that leaves 82 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,160 Speaker 2: a lot of room for like the alcohol industry to 83 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 2: present I guess, favorable data and in industry, in industry 84 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 2: or government reports. It's in a reflection on the study. 85 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 2: This data could be collected by the government and we 86 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 2: could we would be able to know changes like this 87 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 2: when they happen, rather than waiting until four or five, 88 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 2: six years after the policy comes in. So I think 89 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 2: that's my biggest takeaway is that this data exists and 90 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 2: the government really isn't making use of it. It's you know, 91 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 2: falling on researchers four years after the policy comes into place. 92 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know then we sort of see policies 93 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: change at different times, they chop and change in different ways, 94 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: and we sort of, you know, we may not even 95 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: look into that research before those policies change. Well, doctor 96 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: Nick Taylor, it's good to speak to you this morning. 97 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time and having a chat to 98 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: us about this research. 99 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 2: Excellent. Thank you for having me on. 100 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks so much.