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

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Govt unveils $53m to target binge drinking

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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.

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

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.