Industry figures have called for Australia's alcohol taxes to be shaken up as a father warns of the danger posed by methanol-tainted booze.
Peak bodies are pushing for an urgent review of alcohol tax settings after researchers found almost one in three bottle shops visited across Victoria, NSW and Queensland contained suspected illicit alcohol products.
Current tax settings were creating incentives for illicit alcohol trade and the situation could not be allowed to continue, Spirits & Cocktails Australia executive director Steven Fanner said.
"We have a narrow window of opportunity to correct the course in spirits before it follows the same path we have seen in tobacco, where the illicit market now dominates," he said.
Australia had the highest spirits tax in the world outside of Scandinavia, the peak bodies said.
