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Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Prime Minister Rudd has labelled the binge drinking culture an epidemic and has pledged to analyse the situation.
Abuse of alcohol an epidemic, PM warns
Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Metherell, February 21, 2008
BINGE drinking has reached "epidemic" proportions, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has said, as he foreshadowed action to combat the growing problem of alcohol abuse. Mr Rudd said yesterday that police across Australia had expressed their concerns to him that alcohol abuse "lies at the core of increasing spates of urban violence around the country".
He foreshadowed talks with the state governments and said he had already spoken with the federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, about what might be done.
His remarks have been welcomed by the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation, whose recent survey found one in 10 Australians were frightened by a drunk during the festive season.
The foundation's chief executive, Daryl Smeaton, said Mr Rudd's comments marked a breakthrough in recognition of the scale of the problems created by alcohol abuse. "No prime minister has said anything like this before," he said.
The estimated cost of the alcohol toll had doubled in the past eight years to $15 billion. Demands on police services had also soared with alcohol-generated problems now thought to account for as much as 80 per cent of police work, Mr Smeaton said.
Mr Rudd told Brisbane radio yesterday: "I am concerned about what I would describe as an epidemic of binge drinking across the country.
"It is not good for young people's health … But the key question is, what do you do about it? Moaning and groaning about it is one thing … How do we act effectively on these?"
Mr Rudd said the response could only be done in partnership with the states and territories, "but frankly I think it is starting to get somewhat out of control … I think we are dealing with a growing problem, not a static problem and therefore I think we have got to sit down as governments and work out an appropriate response".
Labor has already pledged to establish a national preventive health taskforce that would investigate unhealthy behaviour including excessive drinking and will take responsibility for developing a national preventive health strategy.
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