Senior Liberals have poured cold water on Nationals leader David Littleproud’s suggestion that taxes on beer could be frozen under a Coalition government.

Littleproud raised the idea on Sunday, saying it was another area where cost-of-living pain was hitting hard.

“Australians aren’t turning up to the pub, they don’t have the disposable income they used to. But then when you couple that with the six-monthly increase in excise, that’s putting beer out of the reach of many Australians,” he told Sky News.

Excise, which is charged on top of the 10 per cent GST, has helped drive the price of a pint of beer to about $18 during the current inflation crisis.

Alcohol excises are adjusted twice a year – in February and August. The last rise, of 1 per cent, came into effect on August 5.

Littleproud was due to meet the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) in Coffs Harbour on Monday, alongside local MP Pat Conaghan, who has moved a private members’ bill seeking to freeze future excise hikes.

Ahead of the Nationals’ federal council meeting earlier in September – where the issue was on the agenda – Conaghan said alcohol excises should be reviewed across the board.

But opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor refused to back the junior Coalition partner.

“The starting point to reducing the pressure of indexation is to get inflation down,” he said in a statement to the ABC.

The ABC reports that Taylor has apparently told colleagues there are no Coalition plans to amend excises.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume was also less than enthusiastic about Littleproud’s idea on Monday.

“I always like the idea of … free beer. But unfortunately, that might not be the policy slogan that you’ll be seeing us going into the election with,” she told Sky News.

The government was also cool on freezing beer excise.

Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler told the Nine Network that it wasn’t a focus.

“Cheaper medicines, not beer,” he said.

The alcohol industry hit out at the August excise rise, with AHA CEO Stephen Ferguson describing it at the time as a “crippling” tax on socialising.

“This hidden tax, which has gone up every six months for the last 35 years, will hit pub goers in the hip pocket at a time they can least afford it,” he said.

“Australia’s hidden beer tax rate is now the third highest in the OECD and the excise on beer and spirits this financial year alone will be nearly $8 billion.”

The AHA wants multiparty support to cut excise rates.

“It’s not the politicians who cop the grief from customers every time the business has to pass this hidden tax on – it’s the worker or owner behind the bar who cops it,” Ferguson said.