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Jack, Roving reporter

Alcohol & violence - A youth perspective

On August 27, 2009 the Victorian Minister for Metal Health, Lisa Neville, held a roundtable with a collective of young people from various demographics and organisations to discuss issues relating to alcohol.

People in attendance varied in socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural values, ethnicity and age. The Minister for Youth Affairs, James Merlino, was also in attendance.

Ministerial Taskforce

Back in November 2007, The Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, established the Ministerial Taskforce on Alcohol and Public Safety after he declared alcohol the biggest social issue facing Victoria.

This taskforce comprised of the Minister for Mental Health, the Attorney General, the Minister for Consumer Affairs, the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Minister for Health and experts from police, local government and heath backgrounds.

The aim of this taskforce was to develop and implement a plan to tackle alcohol abuse. All of the discussion, ideas and intentions have been outlined in "Restoring the Balance: Victoria's Alcohol Action Plan 2008-2013" (new window).

While this action plan is being executed the Minister for Mental Health has invited young people from Victoria to express their view in a roundtable discussion to get an inside view on what the Victorian Government should be doing to overcome this growing problem.

Currently in Victoria alone:

• 24,714 people are hospitalised every year because of alcohol
• 16,500 drivers are convicted of drink and/or drug offences
• 10,000-15,000 people are apprehended for public drunkenness and every year
• 759 people are killed due to alcohol related issues

These chilling statistics are a major part of the reasons as to why the youth roundtable discussion was held.

What did we talk about?

A range of topics were brought up at the roundtable discussion, the main areas being:

• Underage drinking
• Responsible service of alcohol
• Peer pressure
• Police attendance
• Safety on public transport
• Awareness
• Culture disconnection
• Price/taxation
• Sponsorship and advertising campaigns

Underage drinking

Many of the participants who attended the roundtable discussion had personal accounts of 'kids' as young as 12-16 years old being served alcohol underage at a licensed venue.

There was also talk of Indigenous children as young as nine who are engaging in drinking and violence. They have often dropped out of school and in many cases there is lack of appropriate support.

However, the end result saw the responsibility landing on the parents and older generation. The majority of participants agreed that older people (late 20s and 30s) were actually the main perpetrators of violence. Some felt that young people were being unjustly singled out by media and the Government, and as a result the stigma of young people as 'binge drinkers' has stuck.

Responsible service of alcohol

With a lot of the responsibility now being established as the older generation's, the topic of responsible service was looked at.

There was call for greater enforcement of licensing laws, particularly around underage drinking, and a need for "time-out zones" to cater for people who are too intoxicated. A switch from glass to plastic was also discussed, as well as more support for managers and licensees when implementing the law.

Awareness of the problem and sponsorship and advertising

One of the reasons people came up with as to why the general public was so aggressive to bar staff and other members of the public when under the influence, was the lack of awareness and the overwhelming amount of advertising.

Advertising that is linked with sporting events was seen as having an 'encouraging' effect towards alcohol, because the sporting stars that are associated with them are heroes for much of the young generation. This in turn was seen as leading to the lack of awareness about the damaging effects of alcohol.

As a solution to this the roundtable thought there needed to be more education in schools, starting from a younger age. This would informs young people about the ramifications associated with indulging to excess.

So what should be done?

In regards to implementing these ideas and discussions, the solutions the youth roundtable has come up with are:

• Education in schools at an early age
• Education for intervention
• Targeting violent people with harsher punishments
• Utilising shock stories showing the impact of risky drinking behaviors on the individual, people around them and the community

Alcohol and its associated violence is of massive concern to the Victorian Government. With the Alcohol Action Plan, and help from young people as represented by the youth roundtable, the Government plans to tackle and overcome these problems.

Check out our Articles archive for more articles about Health & relationships and Community & activism. And for more about alcohol-related issues, check out our Drugs, Smoking and Alcohol pages.

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