Greens introduce junk food ad ban bill

The Greens have introduced a bill in the Senate to ban junk food advertisements on television during peak children viewing times.

Greens leader Bob Brown says he wants to tackle childhood obesity by ending the multi-million dollar campaign by junk food companies to target children.

The Public Health Association and Cancer Council supports the bill, saying it is an important way to protect the health of children.

The council says the bill deserves bipartisan support.

MPs baulk at rules on sexualisation

CHILDREN are increasingly exposed to highly sexualised images, a Senate committee has found - but it has stopped short of calling for tougher government regulation, which has angered parent groups.

The issue has been thrown into the spotlight by controversies such as the publication of photos of the 15-year-old Disney star Miley Cyrus topless in the magazine Vanity Fair.

Although the committee rejected tighter standards on what television and advertisers can show, it recommended a national sex education program as a way to teach children about healthy relationships and to help them "deconstruct" sexualised images.

It singled out raunchy music videos and toys such as Bratz dolls, but said "it is the primary responsibility of parents to make decisions about what their children see, hear, read or purchase.

"These parental decisions can have a significant impact on the market for sexualising products and services."

The committee has also suggested that television networks consider a dedicated children's channel and that publishers of magazines such as Dolly and Girlfriend investigate putting content warnings on covers.

Parenting groups were angry the committee did not take a tougher position.

"The reliance on industry bodies to fix most of the issues is misplaced. If these bodies were willing to take effective steps to address the issues they would have done so by now," the vice-president of Young Media Australia, Elizabeth Handsley, said.

The professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, Clive Hamilton, said: "The report fails to understand or reflect the level of community concern about the ways in which children are being sexualised by the media and advertisers and has largely ignored the evidence of harm presented to the inquiry by psychologists and other experts working with children."

More than a third of the people who made private submissions to the inquiry identified themselves as parents or grandparents who were concerned that their children and grandchildren were being subject to sexualisation by the media.

The Democrats senator Lyn Allison, who instigated the inquiry, denied the committee had failed to take the issue seriously. "This is a call to industry to shape up or we'll get tougher," she said.

A national sex education program would help children make sense of the images they saw, she said.

"People link the resilience of children to their education about relationships and sex. It's not saying education would fix exposure to images, but it would give help kids deal with them."

The advertising and media industry largely welcomed the report.

Helen Willoughby, the chief executive of the Outdoor Media Association, said: "We are yet to see the detail but we have been speaking with the Advertising Standards Bureau to look at ways to address issues over the past six months about addressing content issues as they relate specifically to the outdoor medium."

A spokesman for PBL Media, the owner of ACP Magazines, the publisher of Dolly, said: "We will have a look at whether we put any age-appropriate information on the covers." The peak body for commercial broadcasters, Free TV Australia, said in a statement that it believed there were already "clear protections" in place for both content and advertising. "We are confident that these are in line with community standards and do not sexualise children," it said.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies

EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Cardholders will have about half their benefits quarantined under the scheme, in which money credited to the Eftpos-style card can only be spent at approved retailers on essential items such as food, clothing and petrol.

The scheme will be introduced into indigenous communities in the Northern Territory next month before being extended nationally.

The Australian Retailers Association has objected to the way the scheme will be monitored, describing as sinister and absurd the proposal by the Human Services Minister, Joe Ludwig, to use random audits and "secret shoppers" to ensure the cards are not being used fraudulently.

The association's executive director, Richard Evans, said although the retail sector had used secret or shadow shoppers for years, the practice was about improving customer service and not about spying on employees.

"They will be sending government spies in to create fraud," Mr Evans said, referring to Senator Ludwig's suggestion that Centrelink inspectors would pose as social security clients and attempt to buy excluded items such as alcohol and tobacco with the card.

Mr Evans said teenaged employees were particularly vulnerable, as they would not feel they had enough authority to tell someone much older or intimidating what they could or could not buy with their card.

"If they succumb, then the retailer and their employee will be penalised by the Government for applying its own program … it's just stupid."

But Senator Ludwig said the debit card was being introduced because "local businesses were crying out for a better system … they felt the existing system had left them out of the game".

The system would also allow recipients to choose from a wider range of shops than the current income management system operating in the Northern Territory under the previous government's intervention policy, where credit for welfare recipients was deposited directly to a limited number of shops.

Senator Ludwig said the Government was committed to compliance because the purpose of income management was to ensure welfare payments were spent in the interests of children.

"The Government is considering a range of practical ideas to help the system work effectively on the ground," he said. "No decision has been made on this issue."

The Australian Council of Social Service has already signalled its opposition to the card, saying the quarantining of benefits will keep disadvantaged families in a rut and not allow them to move out of their crisis.

The Opposition's spokesman for families, Tony Abbott, has said the card will become an administrative nightmare.

Related:

Budget to roll out new welfare card
Welfare plan: The new card will be initially rolled out in NT Indigenous communities. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Rudd Government's proposed welfare debit card is not the best way to help struggling families.

Glorifying gangsters a crime, say critics

Infamous ... Carl Williams.

THE hit television show Underbelly has turned the gangsters it is based on into cult stars - but community leaders say the glorification of crime has gone too far.

"Gangster chic" means killer Carl Williams is overwhelmed with mail in his cell at Barwon Prison in Victoria and has the maximum 5000 friends signed to his Facebook page.

NSW shadow police minister Mike Gallacher said: "Carl Williams has been portrayed as a likeable dope, when the reality is this guy is a dangerous, ruthless killer. These people were involved in a drug trade that has ruined countless lives.

"I just cannot believe that the producers of programs would now reward these sort of people with glorification and guest appearances on TV."

Williams's wife, Roberta, last week was signed up by Sydney shock jock Kyle Sandilands's talent agency with the promise of a reality TV show contract.

Until her husband's exploits in the Melbourne underworld were celebrated on Channel Nine's Underbelly she was the wife of a convicted killer. Now she is a star.

NSW Police Minister David Campbell said yesterday: "I am certain in my belief that no one should profit from their crimes."

Williams may not be profiting from the four murders for which he was jailed, but plenty of people are - including his wife, who now takes people on guided tours of Melbourne's gangland - and the people selling "I roll with Carl" T-shirts on eBay.

While they take the profits, many are warning that it is Australian society and its children who are paying the price.

NSW Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran, said: "Before we had heroes like John Wayne and Star Wars who did good things, but now we seem to celebrate the wrong-doers."

Criminals glorified in the Underbelly series, such as Mick Gatto and Tony Mokbel, have earnt the kind of notoriety normally accorded minor celebrities.

"If the source of someone's celebrity comes from criminal activity then to reward them for that does fly in the face of what we should do as a society," said Dr Simon Longstaff, executive director of St James Ethics Centre.

"A society that values the baubles of celebrity more than the substance of character is hardly one that is worthy of admiration.

"When drama is based on reality and is giving the impression that a life of crime is something to be admired, then I think there are problems. It is glorifying something that is wrong."

The feelings of victims and their families are in danger of being ignored as scriptwriters rush to cash in on television's true-crime wave. Similar dramatisations are planned.

Peter Rolfe, president of the Homicide Survivors After Murder Group, said: "Our problem with a series like Underbelly is that there is no thought for the victims or their families.

"Shows like this add to the distress of the victims by glorifying the actions of the criminals.

"This encourages copycat situations and it simply should not be done.

"It is a sad state of affairs when the glorification of criminals and their activities has become a business."

Quote: NSW Police Minister David Campbell said, quote: "he was certain in his belief that no one should profit from their crimes." Unquote: Yet why is it is okay for corporations to profit from others crimes? Seems media fabrication, sensationalism and down right lies don't speak the real truth anyway. So what's the point? M.O.N.E.Y. $$$$$$$$. Maree O'Halloran forgot to mention that John Wayne shot people, a lethal meme. Hardly a hero. Dr Simon Longstaff managed to duck and weave Ned Kelly and the gang? Australian folk heroes. Glorifying something that is wrong? What about war criminals and the illegal and degrading wars on Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan? Fact is people who make a mistake ought to be able to tell their stories so that others learn about those mistakes and can then avoid making the same mistakes, that's common sense. Less of those stories will be made available to the general public if no one will pay for them. No doubt! Why should prisoners work for free? Considering most of them have lost everything too accept some of the high flyers and corporate criminals like Alan Bond. Rich surprise: Alan Bond bounces back.

Related:

Girls gone wild?
Popular culture carries the momentum, bringing feisty women to our television screens: Buffy, Roseanne, and Seinfeld's Elaine. And it has also brought images that didn't spare our sensitivities.

Corby informant paid $120,000 cash, court told
A former friend of Schapelle Corby was paid "something like" $120,000 in cash by Today Tonight for a fabricated story, a defamation jury heard today.

Conference told drinking needs to be 'denormalised'

A conference in Brisbane has been told that society needs to change the way it thinks about alcohol before there will be a reduction in binge drinking.

The Alcohol and Drug Foundation organised the conference to discuss ways to tackle the problem, with organisations and researchers from across the country attending the event.

Victoria's Professor Margaret Hamilton says drinking needs to be "denormalised".

"Its not really all that acceptable to have people who are out of control, vomiting, mess, aggressive, difficult to manage, making a hell of a mess," Ms Hamilton said.

"I think we've got to get that kind of thinking happening. That'll take a long time."

Related:

One in three pregnant women drink: study

More than one third of pregnant women drink despite most knowing the harmful effects alcohol can have on unborn children, a study has found. A paper, to be presented at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians annual congress in Adelaide on Tuesday, outlines the results of a telephone survey of 1,103 Australian women aged between 18 and 45.

Thirty-four per cent of the women surveyed consumed alcohol during their last pregnancy and 32 per cent said they would drink if planning, and during, a future pregnancy. Some 93 per cent of survey respondents knew alcohol could affect unborn children and 81 per cent agreed pregnant women should not drink alcohol.

Pediatrician Elizabeth Elliott says alcohol consumption early in pregnancy puts the unborn child at risk of birth defects, while consumption later can impact on the developing brain. "The message, really, for women should be that no safe level has been established, and that large amounts of alcohol frequently, and particularly early in the pregnancy, is likely to cause the worst outcomes," Professor Elizabeth Elliott said."Not drinking in pregnancy is the safest option and we particularly advise women not to become intoxicated."

The alcohol level in the mother's blood is the same as in her foetus. The risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy are difficult to predict for each individual because factors such as a woman's weight, age and general health, come into play. About half of pregnancies are unplanned so inevitably many women have consumed alcohol before learning they are pregnant, Prof Elliott said. "What we do is reassure women that if they've drunk alcohol at low levels then it's likely that they've done no damage to their baby," she said.

Prof Elliott says Australian attitudes to alcohol are very tolerant. "So, in contrast to somewhere like the (United) States where if you're a pregnant woman in a pub drinking you might well have people coming up to you and telling you to stop drinking," she said. "That doesn't happen here as much."

There have been increasing levels of drinking by young women, she said. Prof Elliott says she hopes revised guidelines on safe drinking, to be issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council later this year, will include messages to women about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy. She said 95 per cent of women surveyed wanted doctors to ask them about alcohol consumption in pregnancy and to advise them of the potential harm to their foetus. "The community is ready for a tougher message on alcohol," she said. "We have got to not only give them (women) the knowledge but we have got to somehow change their attitudes."

Driver straps in beer, leaves kid loose

Police in Alice Springs say they were appalled to find a driver put a seatbelt around a carton of beer - but left a five-year-old child unrestrained.Officers stopped the unregistered sedan on the Ross Highway south of Alice Springs on the weekend. They found the child sitting in the back seat without a seatbelt, but the driver had put a belt around a slab of beer.

Alcohol boosts cancer risks: experts
A new study has found that drinking just two standard alcoholic drinks a day significantly increases the risks of developing breast, bowel, throat and mouth cancer.

Balmain hotels fill as young mourn pub mates
Many of those involved in the accident were from Balmain. Friends gathered, embraced and cried openly on Darling Street, and soon after were intoxicated with alcohol as well as grief. Balmain bar staff described the incident as a pub staff night gone wrong.

Calls for binge warnings on alcohol packaging
The Public Health Association (PHA) says warnings about the dangers of binge drinking should be pasted on all forms of packaged alcoholic drinks.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Calls for binge warnings on alcohol packaging

The Public Health Association (PHA) says warnings about the dangers of binge drinking should be pasted on all forms of packaged alcoholic drinks.

The Australia-New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council has requested Food Standards Australia to consider putting warnings on all alcoholic drinks.

PHA chief executive Michael Moore says mandatory warnings are a must if Australia is to properly combat binge drinking.

"I think people should be warned about intoxication," he said.

"I think they should be reminded that drinking sensibly is one thing but drinking to get drunk is an inappropriate way to use alcohol and an unhealthy way to use alcohol."

Mr Moore says warnings must carry the basic message that getting drunk is unhealthy.

"I think that it is appropriate if we begin a labelling regime to apply to alcohol across the board," he said.

"I think it is appropriate to remind people that what we ought to be doing is drinking sensible and binge drinking or drinking regularly is really not good for your health."

Man stabbed in night of brawls

Three men have been arrested over a stabbing in Sydney's Darling Harbour, after police had to respond to three separate fights involving up to 30 people. A 24-year-old man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, after being stabbed in the back during one brawl, which occurred at a hotel on Wheat Road. Police say they were called to the hotel around 1.30am (AEST), with reports that three separate fights had broken out involving 30 people. Three men were later arrested over the incident. Two 18-year-olds and one 19-year-old have been taken to City Central police station, where the are currently being questioned, police said.

Meanwhile, two teenage boys have been charged after a separate altercation in Sydney's Hyde Park last night. Police say a group of 15 teenagers had gathered at the park, before a fight broke out among the youths at 1.30am (AEST). A 19-year-old Croydon Park man and 17-year-old from Burwood Heights were arrested by police patrolling the park.
Both have been charged with affray and will appear in court later this month. The 19-year old will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on May 23, while the teenager will face Bidura Children's Court the same day.

Related;

Balmain hotels fill as young mourn pub mates
Many of those involved in the accident were from Balmain. Friends gathered, embraced and cried openly on Darling Street, and soon after were intoxicated with alcohol as well as grief. Balmain bar staff described the incident as a pub staff night gone wrong. The Commercial Hotel on Darling Street had changed hands on Wednesday and it is understood that staff from hotels in the area had gathered to mark the occasion with a night of drinking and celebration.

Police name 6th harbour crash victim
Thirty-two-year-old Ashlei Ayres, a single mother of two, has now been named as one of the five people who died at the scene of the crash.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy

Booze-fuelled violence doubles in decade

BOOZE-FUELLED assaults in NSW have doubled in number in less than 10 years, the state's auditor general has found.

A third of all the alcohol-related violent incidents also occurred at a licensed hotel or club, Auditor General Peter Achterstraat said today.

"A lot more needs to be done to enforce and promote the responsible service of alcohol," Mr Achterstraat said in releasing the report.

"We need to make sure that police are trained better, and the public is better educated and there is a consistency in the application of the laws across the state."

There were 10,305 alcohol-related assaults, or ARAs, statewide in the 1997-98 financial year.

The figure climbed steadily upwards during the early 2000s to stand at 20,475 ARAs in 2006-07.

"The increase in alcohol-related crime is disturbing," Mr Achterstraat said.

Part of the problem stemmed from the inconsistent application of laws surrounding the irresponsible service of alcohol, he said.

Mr Achterstraat said NSW police and the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) both had powers to lay charges but in some cases licensees would receive a verbal warning when, for a similar incident, another would be fined.

"Whenever you have two agencies involved in administering a program there is always the need to liaise closer, and invariably things can fall through the cracks," Mr Achterstraat said.

In terms of pub and club owners facing the courts, police referred 136 cases to prosecutors in 2007, well up on the 58 cases in 2006.

The OLGR referred just six cases in 2007, up from two in 2006.

The report, titled Working with Hotels and Clubs to Reduce Alcohol-related Crime, found NSW has a total 14,227 licensed premises.

Thirty per cent of ARAs occurred on licensed premises in 2006-07, another 35 per cent occurred outdoors, while 24 per cent were in residential homes.

Related:

Alliance tackles drunken violence
THE TOLL of alcohol-related violence has reached the point where one in five Australians now say they have been directly affected or know someone who has been affected by this type of violence, a new survey shows.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Alliance tackles drunken violence

THE TOLL of alcohol-related violence has reached the point where one in five Australians now say they have been directly affected or know someone who has been affected by this type of violence, a new survey shows.

The issue, which will be discussed at the 2020 Summit this week, has spurred a coalition of 30 organisations - including social welfare groups, research bodies and even a NSW local council - to form the National Alliance Against Alcohol Related Violence.

The alliance has released a Roy Morgan survey that suggests more than 84 per cent of Australians, or 14 million people, believe that binge drinking is increasing and there is a link between this and increased alcohol-related violence. The survey also shows that almost 60 per cent of Australians say they are concerned about alcohol-related violence when they go out at night and an equal number are more concerned about alcohol-related crime now, compared with three years ago. The research was based on a national telephone survey of 694 people.



[A survey of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Figures from Nielsen Media Research show that alcoholic beverage companies spent $122million on media advertising in the 12months to November 30, up 11.9percent on the year before.

The survey was undertaken by Galaxy Research for the April issue of the Federal Government-funded publication Of Substance.

Australian National Council on Drugs executive officer Gino Vumbaca said,"Government campaigns can be quite effective but the money always runs out, but the alcohol companies' ads continue,"

All alcohol in Australia is subject to GST and a mix of excise or customs duty or the Wine Equalisation Tax is charged on beer, spirits and wine.

Alcohol is second only to tobacco as a preventable cause of drug-related mortality and hospitalisation in Australia. In 1998-99, the annual cost of alcohol-related social problems was estimated to be $7.6billion.

Stephen Riden, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia, said the cost is partly offset by Government revenue from taxes which it estimates to be $5.9billion this financial year.

This group is demanding the Federal Government make alcoholic beverage companies spend millions on media, advertising - Warning-Dangers-of-Alcohol.



Now the SMH has completely ignored the above survey and today came out with another one that has nothing to do with making alcoholic beverage companies spend millions on media, advertising - Warning-Dangers. And the general public wonder why?]

The group is demanding the Federal Government tax all alcoholic products by their volume of alcohol and that alcoholic drinks be exempted from competition policy and be regulated separately. The group also wants state and territory governments to reduce the number of and opening hours of outlets that sell alcohol.

The Federal Government did not respond to Herald questions. A spokeswoman for the NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, said the state government had appointed 30 police officers to new alcohol co-ordination teams and spent $2 million on the Alcohol Linking Program.

The formation of the alliance comes as the Herald continues a year-long freedom-of-information battle to obtain the names of the hotels in the police's linking data. It also comes after the Herald revealed that the mayor of Randwick Council, one of the alliance members, wants to force the Coogee Bay Hotel and the Beach Palace Hotel to close their doors early in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related crime.

Alliance organisations include the Alcohol Education Rehabilitation Foundation (AER), Australian National Council on Drugs, the Salvation Army, Randwick Council and the St Vincents Hospital Emergency Medicine Department (Melbourne).

The chief executive of AER, Daryl Smeaton, said the level of alcohol-related violence was now at crisis point.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found almost 45 per cent - 33,147 cases - of the 74,091 assaults in NSW in the year to September 2007 were alcohol-related.

A report for the Federal Government found the social cost of alcohol was about $15.3 billion in 2005.

The Reverend Tim Costello, who will chair the communities, families and social inclusion discussion area at the 2020 Summit, said he wanted to change national attitude to alcohol.

"I hope that by 2020 the idea of being intoxicated is as socially unacceptable as sexual harassment," Mr Costello said.

"How we get there is a mixture of an alcohol volumetric tax - taxing strong casks of wine more heavily that light beer, which worked in the Northern Territory - and looking at the opening hours of pubs and the concentration of outlets."

"I think it's now incomprehensible to young people that they can actually have fun without alcohol and without getting smashed," Mr Costello said.

REFORM AGENDA

* Tax alcohol by volume

* Remove industry from competition policy

* Reduce number of drinking outlets

* Reduce operating hours

So what happened to Message on a bottle for binge drinkers?

Quote: See the Herald seems to be playing a game it's called lets make sure alcohol is not labelled? For who may you ask? Corporations. Shame on the Sydney Morning Herald.

Related:

Labels, not taxes the solution to drunks: lobby group

Negligent parents face 3 years jail

Ban on late spirit sales

Govt unveils $53m to target binge drinking

Millions abused during boozy Christmas hols: study

Stress and debt make Sydney a violent city

Tobacco costs more than illicit drugs

THE social costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs have been rising faster than inflation and, at more than $56 billion a year, outstrip the Federal Government's health budget.

Even though smoking rates are falling, the toll from tobacco accounts for more than half of all drug costs to the community, according to a report the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, is releasing today.

The three drug groups cause ill-health, accidents, premature death, crime and lost productivity with their cost easily exceeding the $45 billion the Federal Government spends on health.

Ms Roxon is expected to cite the huge costs identified in the government-commissioned report to promote the need for "cultural change" to counter unhealthy habits which trigger chronic disease.

Prepared by the Sydney academics Professors David Collins and Helen Lapsley, the report is the most comprehensive study on the social costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs in nearly a decade.

Based on the latest available data, covering 2004-05 it shows the real costs of tobacco are estimated to have jumped by 23.5 per cent to $31.5 billion in the six years to 2005.

The rise in the real costs of illicit drug use was less than half, at 11.3 per cent to $8.2 billion in the same period. Alcohol was estimated to generate $15.3 billion in social costs in 2005, but the growth in costs was not available because of statistical changes.

Although the number of smokers is falling, the delayed effects of past smoking means that costs have continued to rise.

At an Australian Institute of Health Policy Studies conference today Ms Roxon is expected to warn of the difficulties in bringing cultural change to habits like smoking and heavy drinking and to reorient health policy to focus more on prevention.

"This won't be simple, and it won't be quick. Cultural shifts are complex and difficult to achieve," she says.

The Government will soon announce a national preventive health taskforce whose priority targets will be obesity, tobacco and heavy drinking. The Government has already announced $50 million for three combat plans targeted at binge drinking.

What set the Rudd Government apart from its predecessors, she said, was the recognition that the rise of preventable chronic disease "also poses a front-line economic challenge".

The impact of poor health on workforce participation and productivity was something Australia could not afford at a time of skills shortages. Greater focus on prevention, not just in the health system but more broadly, would yield economic and other benefits.

The Government had commissioned Treasury to produce a report into the economic benefits of increased focus on illness prevention.

Future intergenerational reports would include an assessment of the impact of preventable chronic diseases and policies to combat them.

Yesterday Ms Roxon urged the pharmaceutical industry to engage "more fully" in the Government's health reform agenda.

She told a Medicines Australia meeting that both the recently appointed National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the proposed Preventive Health Taskforce would widely consult health and community groups. "I would encourage you to take full advantage of this consultation."

Related:

Parents of drunk children face fines
Nearly 1,700 children were treated in hospital for alcohol in the past year - some as young as 10.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Message on a bottle for binge drinkers
BOTTLES of alcoholic drinks could soon carry graphic pictures warning of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption as part of the Federal Government's latest series of measures to cut down on under-age and binge drinking.

Brawls mar Sydney Royal Easter Show

THE last night of the Sydney Royal Easter Show went off with a bang - literally - with up to 200 people involved in a brawl that left one policeman hospitalised with a bloody face.

"At about 10pm in the carnival area of the show there was an altercation between two females, and a crowd of between 100 and 200 gathered round," said the NSW Police event commander, Inspector Patrick Wunsch.

"Police attempted to separate and restrain the two females. One female was arresested and handcuffed. While this is occuring, another female has come up to the police office and used her right knee to knee a male officer in the face."

The officer was take to Westmead Hospital with a bloodfied face. Three females were arrested and one is likely to be charged with assaulting police.

Inspector Wunsch said it took an additional 20-25 police about 15 minutes to disperse the crowd where a number of fights were going on.

About 800,000 people attended this year's show according to the Royal Agricultural Society, the poorest crowd figure since the event moved to Sydney Olympic Park in 1998. Attendances dropping 90,000 from last year.

Question: Were they drunken brawls?

Support for booze public education

A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Figures from Nielsen Media Research show that alcoholic beverage companies spent $122million on media advertising in the 12months to November 30, up 11.9percent on the year before.

The survey was undertaken by Galaxy Research for the April issue of the Federal Government-funded publication Of Substance.

Australian National Council on Drugs executive officer Gino Vumbaca said,"Government campaigns can be quite effective but the money always runs out, but the alcohol companies' ads continue,"

All alcohol in Australia is subject to GST and a mix of excise or customs duty or the Wine Equalisation Tax is charged on beer, spirits and wine.

Alcohol is second only to tobacco as a preventable cause of drug-related mortality and hospitalisation in Australia. In 1998-99, the annual cost of alcohol-related social problems was estimated to be $7.6billion.

Stephen Riden, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia, said the cost is partly offset by Government revenue from taxes which it estimates to be $5.9billion this financial year.

Solution: Make alcoholic beverage companies spend millions on media, advertising - Warning-Dangers-of-Alcohol!!!

Related:

Labels, not taxes the solution to drunks: lobby group

Message on a bottle for binge drinkers

Ciggy substitute abuse on rise

ABOUT 425,000 Australians are fuelling a boom in the nicotine replacement market, now worth more than $90 million a year.

Despite anecdotal evidence of many reformed smokers getting hooked on nicotine replacement patches, lozenges and chewing gum, medical experts still know little of the health impact of long-term use.

Harry Hemley, from the Australian Medical Association, said other quitting strategies, such as hypnotherapy and medication, tended to be more effective but he sometimes recommended nicotine replacement when other methods failed.

"My experience with patients is that they haven't been all that successful," Dr Hemley said. "I've had patients who've used them for years on and off and become dependent on the patches and the gum."

The Australian nicotine replacement market has grown immensely since nicotine gum first became available on prescription in 1984, helped by a rise in the social stigma attached to smoking and wider availability of the products.

Nicotine replacement products gradually release nicotine into the bloodstream, relieving the physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal without the other harmful chemicals contained in tobacco smoke.

In 1997, when patches and gum became available over the counter at pharmacies, sales spiked 1117 per cent in a single year.

In the year after their sale was further liberalised in 2003, sales increased by as much as 5257 per cent, revealed a study conducted by the Smoking Cessation Research Unit at Sydney University, which was funded by the nicotine replacement product manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.

Since smoking was banned in pubs and clubs in July, Nicabate, made by GlaxoSmithKline, has been sold on a trial basis in some licensed premises. Its competitor Johnson & Johnson has been giving out information and free samples of Nicorette patches in pubs.

Research conducted in 2005 by the Cancer Council found 21.3 per cent of successful quitters believed nicotine replacement therapy helped.

A review of 110 trials by the independent Cochrane Collaboration found only 17 per cent of smokers who used nicotine replacements successfully quit.

Suzie Stillman, deputy director of the lobbying organisation Quit, said it was common for failed quitters to use nicotine replacement products incorrectly, such as using patches inconsistently or giving up before they completed the recommended course.

Nicotine increases a person's heart rate and blood pressure and slightly elevates the risk of heart disease. A 2003 study conducted by the National Cancer Institute in the US showed it might also contribute to the development of some cancers.

Professor Ron Borland, at the Cancer Council, said nicotine alone was at least 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes. He said the doses contained in nicotine replacement products were probably of equivalent harm as caffeine.

Quote: Cold Turk
(Written by: John Lennon)

Temperature's rising
Fever is high
Can't see no future
Can't see no sky
My feet are so heavy
So is my head
I wish I was a baby
I wish I was dead
Cold turkey has got me on the run
My body is aching
Goose-pimple bone
Can't see no body
Leave me alone
My eyes are wide open
I can't get to sleep
One thing I'm sure of
I'm in at the deep freeze
Cold turkey has got me on the run
Come on,
Cold turkey has got me on the fucking run
Thirty-six hours
Rolling in pain
Praying to someone
Free me again
Oh I'll be a good boy
Please make me well
I promise you anything
Get me out of this hell
Cold turkey has got me on the run
Cold turkey, cold turkey,
Cold turkey, cold turkey, cold turkey, cold turkey,
Oh, oh, oh, yeah, Oh, oh, oh, oooh
Cold turkey, cold turkey, cold turkey, cold turkey
Yeahhhh

Quote: I gave up smoking after 35 years 3 months ago. Go cold turkey and save your money it works just fine.

Labels, not taxes the solution to drunks: lobby group

The Federal Government's proposal to introduce graphic cigarette-style warning labels on alcohol has been accepted by a lobby group, which says that placing graphic style warning labels on alcohol will be more effective.

The Anti-Mad Man's Broth Society says the Government proposal to introduce the labels, and put national laws on the sale of alcohol, will have a major impact in reducing binge drinking.

The measures are being considered by the country's leaders and will be discussed at Wednesday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Adelaide.

The Coalition's Sam Miles says while the changes are welcome, raising alcohol prices would only mean people who drink would have to struggle more and could lead to people not being able to pay the rent.

"If we could get large signboards on roadsides warning of the dangers, or failing that a minimum label on bottles and cans warning of the dangers, or both, so that we can try and make the alcoholic drinks that some people are choosing more explanatory, that will have more of an impact than any of the other measures that are being proposed for COAG," he said.

"There will be lobby groups for the government and corporations hell bent on protecting the corporate giants who produce alcohol and will argue against labels pretending to be assisting but masked and instead asking for increased taxes however most people are struggling as it is especially with petrol prices and rent and that idea would just make it harder for families", he said.

Related:

Alcohol producers urge caution on booze reform

The Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia is urging politicians not to make radical changes to the way alcohol is advertised and sold in Australia.

Alcohol abuse will be among the most important topics at today's Commonwealth of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Adelaide.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon is proposing graphic images being put on alcohol bottles and cans as a deterrent to binge drinking.

But the Council's Steve Riden says better enforcement of current measures, like checking patrons' IDs, is a large part of the answer.

"Things like responsible service of alcohol, which means the barman doesn't serve you when your staggering drunk," he said.

"If the Federal Government was actually going to take effective action on enforcement of that and parental supply of teenagers, then we think that would be a good move."

Quote: What happens when the staggering drunk leaves the pub? Who pays for the damage? It's not only about binge drinking it is also about drunks whether they be teens or adults drinking is a major problem in Australia today.