A Round Up of Alcohol News
| Education Campaign to support introduction of Secondary Supply legislation in Victoria |
October 5 2011. Today the State Government of Victoria announced that the recently passed Secondary Supply Legislation would take effect from November 1 2011. The date of effect was brought forward from February 1 2012 in order to be in place for the Christmas school holidays. Accompanying the launch a comprehensive education program was launched. Futher information can be found at http://www.teendrinkinglaw.vic.gov.au/
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Secondary Supply Legislation to be introduced in Victoria March 21 2011. The Herald Sun reports that legislation to be introduced to State Parliament this week will make it illegal for adults to provide alcohol to anybody else's children visiting their homes, unless they gain permission from the children's parents. The new law will close a loophole that has angered parenting groups and drug and alcohol campaigners for a decade. The State Government also will launch a big education campaign in its crackdown on harmful under-age drinking. Link to news article in Herald Sun Link to news article in ABC News Link to news article in the Geelong Advertiser
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Channel 10 News Interview This interview was broadcast by Channel 10 on their evening news bulletin on Wednesday 28th December 2010. View broadcast here |
AMA Press Release 28th Dec 2010 13% of teen deaths due to alcohol Doctors see the consequences of alcohol-related violence and traffic accidents every day, particularly among young people who are more likely to exercise poor judgement and impaired decision making when drinking. “More than half of all serious alcohol-related road injuries occur among 15-24 year olds, and alcohol is associated with about one-third of self-inflicted injuries and suicides. “Thirteen per cent of deaths among 14-17 year olds are due to alcohol-related harms, including road injury, suicide and violent assault, with a further 60 teenagers hospitalised each week.” Read the Press Release here AMA brochure provides advice to help Australians be more responsible about drinking alcohol
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Government's Intention While opening State Parliament today, Dec 21 2010, the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, A.C. announced the government's intention to legislate to prohibit the Secondary Supply of Alcohol to minors. We are one step closer. Vic State - Election 2010 Today the Coalition parties claimed victory in the Victorian State election. Accordingly we now have every expectation that the policy announced last week to introduce secondary supply legislation will become law in the near future http://bit.ly/hWoM2v I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mary Wooldridge for her courage in adopting this policy in the heat of a state election. I would also like to thank our many friends for their support and assistance. In particular I wish to thank the staff at the Australian Drug Foundation without whom this change would not have occurred. Bill Stronach, John Rogerson, Sarah Jaggard and last but not least Geoff Munro It has been a frustrating and sometimes painful battle for us. I am disappointed that it took a change in government for this policy to be adopted. However now we can move on confident that Victoria will shortly be joining NSW, QLD and TAS in ensuring the decision-making power over access to alcohol by children is restored to the parents. The events of August 13, 1999 must never be allowed to happen again. Victoria Drowning. The need for State-wide alcohol reform. Our state's love affair with boozing puts 24,700 people in hospital and kills 750 Victorians per year. Strong words? Yes but they are the words of a new coalition of highly repected interest groups including the Australian Drug Foundation, The Cancer Council of Victoria, The Heart Foundation, Turning Point and Vic Health. The Alcohol Policy Coalition has put forward 6 things the Victorian Government can do.
Visit the Alcohol Policy Coalition to learn more of this campaign. Victoria's politicians won't move unless YOU tell them.
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Australian Drug Foundation reignites Secondary Supply Campaign - October 15, 2010 The Australian Drug Foundation has reignited it's "Secondary Supply Campaign" in an an allout effort to convince the State Government of Victoria to reform laws which permit even a total stranger to supply alcohol to your child without your knowledge or permission. Full detailsof the campaign can be found in the document Secondary Supply - who's supplying alcohol to your child The current State Government has repeated rejected recommendations from its own committees to introduce secondary supply legislation and as yet the opposition parties have not committed to this legislation either. The only thing to convince them is the voice of the people, your voice. We ask you to join our campaign by writing to several key people in government and opposition. Details of the people who must hear your voices are listed in the above publication. |
De-Normalisation - How To Reduce Alcohol Harm Amongst Young People. Research just published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry shows there are six things that parents can do to reduce the risk of alcohol related harm in their children. These include: - not getting intoxicated in front of them; - not supplying them with alcohol; And four further general parenting strategies directed at their children: - expressing warmth and affection - maintaining positive communication - monitoring their activities and who their friends are - instituting consequences for wayward behaviour. "One of the key issues coming out of this research is the lack of any evidence showing that normalising the use of alcohol is a good prevention strategy" says Professor Doug Sellman of the University of Otago, Christchurch, who was invited to write an accompanying commentary. "In fact the opposite is the case. The less alcohol is normalised in family life, and particularly when parents avoid being at all intoxicated in front of their children or supplying them with alcohol, the better the prevention of alcohol problems in young people will be" he says. There is an obvious parallel to this for society at large, where the Government, on behalf of all of us has a responsibility to lead the reduction of alcohol-related harm across the population"
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Government resists committee recommendendataion to change law. The Victorian Parliamentary Crimes and Drug Prevention Committee
has for the second time recommended that the Government of Victoria
amends the Liquor Control Reform Act to remove provisions that alloes
third parties to supply alcohol to children in private premises. Once
again the Victorian Government has rejected the call. Injured drinkers filling emergency rooms Drunks are overburdening NSW emergency rooms, researchers have found. Yobs on the outer for Boxing Day Test A MAJOR section of the MCG will be declared a "yobbo-free zone"
during next month's Boxing Day Test. Schoolies the drunkest ever - policeThis year's batch of schoolies are the drunkest ever and have shown
little respect for Queensland's drinking laws, according to police. Teenagers pressured to guzzle the boozeThe phrase "never trust a man who doesn't drink" is embedded
deeply in our culture alongside Vegemite and mateship. But when binge
drinking is the new synonym for teenage socialisation, perhaps the
time has come for Australians to reconsider our attitude towards alcohol. Injured drinkers filling emergency roomsDrunks are overburdening NSW emergency rooms, researchers have found.
Each year about 3000 people die and 65,000 are taken to hospital in
Australia because of alcohol abuse, the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation
Foundation (AER) says. Opposition calls for Victorian liquor trade bansPUBS and nightclubs that serve alcohol to minors or drunks would
be shut down for up to 28 days under a radical proposal by the state
Liberal-Nationals Coalition. Arrests won't end drunken violence: police VICTORIA'S police chief says his force cannot arrest its way out of alcohol-fuelled violence, with the state recording a jump in assaults over a year. The Age November 27 2009 | Read News Article |