EditorialFARE launched its fifth Annual Alcohol Poll at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 26 March, with Senator Fiona Nash, Assistant Minister for Health, the Hon Stephen Jones MP Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Richard Di Natale, Greens Spokesperson for Health, on hand to provide their thoughts on the 2014 findings.
The poll, conducted by Galaxy Research, examines what Australians drink and what they think about alcohol, and has once again highlighted the nation’s growing concerns about alcohol harms and their mixed feelings and complex relationship with alcohol.
The poll again found that an increasing and overwhelming majority of Australians (78%) believe Australia has a problem with excess drinking or alcohol abuse, more than one in three Australians (37%) have been affected by alcohol-related violence, and 4.2 million Australians continue to drink to get drunk.
For more from the night, you can download the panel session audio here.
We’ve summarised below some of the reflections on the Poll findings from the three party representatives.
Senator Fiona Nash on Australian’s growing concerns about alcohol harms, and the Government’s response:
When you talk to people out in the community, they are concerned about it and quite rightly.
Our role is to make sure that we make the right policy decisions to get better outcomes…there is no silver bullet, there is no one quick response as to how you get better outcomes, and as I’ve said before, the Government is going to take its time to make sure we get the balance right so we do get the best outcomes. That doesn’t mean we’re stalling or procrastinating or not paying attention or not listening. It is none of those things.
We just want to make sure we get it right. This is not just an issue that has crept up in the past six months. This is something communities have been dealing with for a long time. There has been a significant amount of focus over recent months, particularly with harm in the community and that has really raised awareness in the community that there are harms resulting from drinking.
Mr Stephen Jones, MP on alcohol advertising and availability:
I don’t need a poll to tell me that we should look at this area (alcohol advertising). I think it’s the public interest, not the popular interest that should drive policy making. By the way, I think that if you asked most Australians what they thought of all advertising, they would say get rid of it, so it’s not one particular advertising over another, and if you want a diverse media you have to have advertising to pay for it, but I do think that’s an area we should have a conversation about. There will be powerful forces against it. We need to look at the commercial realities of commercial television, but there is a higher interest which is the public interest in this space
The other area that you mentioned is availability. That definitely needs to be looked at. It should be high on the agenda at the national summit. I know in my own area there has been a ballooning of grog barns that are open, it seems to me, all hours of the night, and I just think it’s (alcohol) probably too available, and again, I don’t need a poll to tell me that we need to look at the zoning arrangements and I’d like us to be focusing on those issues as well.
Senator Richard Di Natale on calls for a Senate Inquiry into Alcohol Advertising and the AMA’s call for an Alcohol Summit:
The Inquiry process is an opportunity to test the arguments in this space. And the evidence, from someone who comes from a public health background is very clear and unambiguous. Marketing has an impact and it impacts people at a young age and it influences their drinking behaviour and they carry those behaviours through, later in life.
What we need to do is we need to hear from experts who can make those arguments and use the Inquiry process to really highlight just how effective a simple restriction on advertising can be and we hope to use the Inquiry in that way.
I note the AMA (Australian Medical Association) is proposing a Summit. We support a Summit and I think that’s another opportunity in which to have a similar debate, but I will say that if we don’t proceed with a Summit, if we can’t get support for a Summit across all political parties, then I will certainly be introducing a reference for an alcohol Inquiry and I urge all of you to do what you can do to ensure there is support across all parties.
Want more information on the Poll?
You can download the complete report here and see a short video reveal of the findings here.
For more Poll coverage on Drink Tank, Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Dr Steve Hambleton discussed the poll findings at the launch on Wednesday, and you can read his poll reflections here.
Add comment