Sturge: Business chambers putting profits before young people

De­fence Min­is­ter Wayne Sturge has ac­cused busi­ness groups of putting prof­its ahead of the wel­fare of young peo­ple as he de­fend­ed the Gov­ern­ment’s con­tentious move to raise the le­gal ages for al­co­hol, to­bac­co, cannabis and gam­bling.

Speak­ing dur­ing de­bate on the Mis­cel­la­neous Pro­vi­sions (Al­co­hol, Cannabis, Dan­ger­ous Drugs, Gam­bling and To­bac­co) Bill, 2026, in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives ear­li­er to­day, Sturge took par­tic­u­lar aim at the Cham­bers of Com­merce over con­cerns raised about the leg­is­la­tion.

“The Cham­bers of Com­merce don't care that they're de­stroy­ing young peo­ple. They want more cus­tomers. That's what they want,” Sturge said.