Page 3278 - Week 11 - Thursday, 12 September 1991
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strong and close links in the club industry, and the Liberal Party obviously has its own linkages. They are all proper and correct linkages; but they do suggest that it would be better for all of us here for this inquiry to be conducted outside the public service, which operates under the direction of the Government and can be influenced by this Assembly.
The Inquiries Act 1991 is an effective instrument to ensure an appropriate medium for an historic board of inquiry, and that will give proper protection to the chairperson and the panel conducting any such inquiry.
Mr Connolly: And the panel? Mr Jensen said one; you now talk about the chairperson and the panel - inconsistency.
MR COLLAERY: There will certainly be people assisting any such inquiry. Mr Speaker, we need a fearless inquiry into the deepening concern - - -
Mr Connolly: "Chairperson and the panel", he said.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, they are treating this as a joke; I cannot hear myself. We need a fearless inquiry into the deepening concern in our community relating to alcohol. For example, a recent survey made available to the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, I remind Mr Connolly, indicates that two-thirds of the population believes that more regulation of alcohol advertising is needed.
That figure alone speaks eloquently for the public perception of the alcohol problem. The real issue for an independent inquiry is how problems can be tackled. The first and foremost issue, as my colleague Dr Kinloch has indicated, is the whole culture of alcohol consumption leading to abuse. Dr Kinloch has indicated to the Assembly what the Social Policy Committee's evaluation was, and that evaluation is not at odds with advice put to the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy last March, which was - and I believe that Mr Connolly should listen to this, as it is his council now - that research conducted by the Federal Drug Offensive indicates a significant heavy exposure of 13- to 17-year-olds to alcohol advertising, particularly for beer and, to an increasing extent, for spirits.
Many of those surveyed saw alcohol advertising as encouraging young people to drink and as leading them to view drinking as glamorous and exciting. Most people surveyed considered that many advertisements for alcohol beverages were inconsistent with the provisions of the alcohol beverage advertising code, and the advertisements that were perceived to contain the highest incidence of inconsistencies with the code were television commercials for beer and spirits. Ominously, the study found that there was a significant increase in the proportion of adolescents drinking beer and spirits over the study period. I know that Mr Connolly does not have adult children, but he should bear in mind the very sincere interests of quite a number of members of this chamber on this issue.
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