It comes in a report by federal parliamentary committee looking into the alcohol problems in Indigenous communities.
The year-long inquiry was conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs.
It looked at the patterns of supply and demand for alcohol in Indigenous communities and the incidence of alcohol-fuelled violence.
The also examined how alcohol impacts upon foetuses and new-born babies and what approaches have worked in other countries to combat alcohol abuse.
Chair and Liberal M-P Sharman Stone described the findings as tragic.
"I have to say that it is a tragedy, a part of Australia's great shame, that the drinking culture which affects all Australians, of course, in particular affects the Indigenous communities. It is a fact that some Indigenous Australians are less likely than others to drink at all, but, when Indigenous Australians-Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders-do drink, it is more likely that they will drink at highly harmful levels."
Dr Stone says alcohol consumption has a significant impact on Indigenous communities.
"We know that, if you are drinking at a harmful level, there are incredibly serious health impacts. It is well known what the impacts of drinking over a period of time at extremely harmful levels will be. But of course it also impacts on the violence that ensues when you are under the influence of alcohol. Your children, if their parents are both afflicted by or under the influence of alcohol, are neglected. There is a serious situation where a lot of Australian Indigenous fathers but more often, more commonly, even mothers are incarcerated as a result of crimes associated with the abuse of alcohol. When the children's parents are incarcerated, that is a tragedy. You have lost that parenting and that experience of a child growing up with the mother and father in their home. "
Dr Stone says many factors are contributing to alcohol abuse in Indigenous communities.
"We found that it was about the sense of powerlessness and about unemployment. So many of our young Indigenous Australians in remote Australia do not speak English anymore, so they are locked out of the broader Australian society and certainly out of the economy. We found that even racism had an impact on Indigenous communities-their sense of powerlessness and hurt, the legacy of colonisation in Australia. We also found that there is a strong peer pressure to drink to harmful levels in many Indigenous communities. "
Labor MP Warren Snowdon co-chaired the inquiry.
He says it made a number of recommendations, including increasing tax on alcoholic products.
"The recommendation which I think is going to be of most use to us, in terms of harm, goes to the issue of a minimum floor price and the introduction of a volumetric tax. The report speaks significantly about these things and talks of the evidence. It gives the recommendation of the introduction of a national minimum floor price for alcohol and that prompt consideration be given to the recommendation on the Henry review of volumetric tax. "
The 2010 Henry Tax review Mr Snowdon cites suggested a so-called floor price to tax alcohol based on volume.
It said a uniform rate of tax on the alcohol content of all beverages - whether produced as beer, wine or spirits - would relate the alcohol tax base more closely to social harm.
It argued that a common alcohol tax would provide a floor price for alcohol.
The net result would be that the maximum amount of alcohol that could be purchased with a fixed amount of money would fall, because forms of alcohol that are currently the cheapest would become more heavily taxed.
President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Professor Nick Talley says it's a sensible thing to do.
"There is evidence that if we make alcohol pricing slightly higher, we will actually reduce some of the harmful effects of alcohol, overuse of alcohol. This particularly applies to young people, but there's hope that this would also be of benefit to Indigenous populations as well."
But Warren Snowdon concedes that there will be some opposition to the proposals.
"There is no question that there will be people in the community who will be opposed to what we are recommending. Nevertheless, we believe that these recommendations are vitally important. Recommendation 6, for example, goes to the question of advertising and suggests that the Commonwealth take steps to establish a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to alcohol advertising, including banning alcohol advertising during times and in forms of media which may influence children and, significantly - and I think probably most contentiously - banning alcohol sponsorship of sporting teams and sporting events, including but not limited to those in which children participate or may be involved."
The inquiry also called for more emphasis on the harmful impact drinking has during pregnancy.
Professor Nick Talley agrees.
"Foetal alcohol syndrome unfortunately, is still happening today. And it's a condition that once you've acquired this, unfortunately leads to life-long deficits and problems which is absolutely awful. So this really does need to be one of the priorities. Essentially a situation where we don't see foetal alcohol syndrome any more."
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