I see that the Rudd Government has placed a heavy tax on alcopops, the ready mix alcoholic drink that tastes like soft drink and is primarily marketed to teenage women. The excise on pre-mixed drinks, or alcopops, almost doubled on Saturday, from $39 a litre of pure alcohol to $67. The change means the price of alcopops such as Bacardi Breezers and Vodka Cruisers will increase by between 30c and $1.30 a bottle, depending on the alcohol content.

This kind of policy is in the tradition of taxing cigarettes to help reduce their consumption. No doubt the libertarians will mutter about the nanny state and individual freedom and teenagers will shift their alcohol consumption back to beer and wine.

Bill Leak

The justification for the tax rise is that a "significant proportion" of the revenue would be directed to the new black in health funding, preventative health programs. So something has come out of the 2020 Summit, in which each section had to come up with one big idea, and three policy ideas, including one that came at no cost.

This does help to shift the debate away from the medical model and hospitals to health and prevention. What we don't want is the money being spent on public hospitals as the aim is to keep people out of hospitals.

Will junk food be next?