Health Minister Nicola Roxon has accused federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson of siding with the alcohol industry over the government's alcopops tax increase.
Ms Roxon says Dr Nelson is putting the health of young Australians at risk by holding up the government's 70 per cent increase in the excise on ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages in the senate.
She says early tax office figures show the measure has resulted in a 23 per cent decline in consumption of spirits, including a massive decline in consumption of alcopops.
Ms Roxon says Dr Nelson is in denial over the success of the measure and she's challenged him to explain what effects reversing the tax increase will have.