Page 3297 - Week 11 - Thursday, 12 September 1991
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One of the issues raised here is under-age drinking. It is not good enough simply to say to under-age people, "Look, just do not drink; it is bad for you". I find it very hard to believe that any member of this Assembly or even any member of the gallery was allowed to drink prior to the time that they were 18 years of age. In the case of many of us the drinking age was 21, as I am sure Dr Kinloch will recall. Maybe, in your time Dr Kinloch, it was even 25; I do not know.
Dr Kinloch: I may not have reached the age yet.
MR MOORE: Nevertheless, that is an issue that is important about people who are not yet adults and about how to deal with them. There is absolutely no point in increasing penalties if that does not work, and if it is demonstrated that it does not work. A tremendous amount of research has been done on this issue, particularly by Professor Nick Heather at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. Professor Heather's team is recognised not only in Australia but worldwide as a leader in this issue of drug abuse, particularly of alcohol.
A review of trading hours for licensed premises is an appropriate part of such an inquiry; but it has to be done within that context of reducing the harm associated with the use of drugs, particularly alcohol. That associated harm does not stop just at the things that Mr Collaery and Mr Stefaniak have drawn attention to, of people who are drunk and who are causing a public nuisance. That is a great harm that is associated with the use of alcohol and one that does need to be tackled.
It also includes, of course, the health of people who use alcohol to excess and the areas that Ms Maher has drawn attention to - the harm associated with the families of people who use alcohol as a stimulant, domestic violence and other such problems. These are all harms associated with the use and abuse of alcohol. Whatever inquiry we have should concentrate on how to go about reducing those associated harms. It should have that as the major goal, rather than the reduction of the use of alcohol itself.
In fact, one thing that is likely to follow is a reduction in the use of alcohol rather than actually having that as the leading point. This policy of harm reduction that we have adopted in Australia has worked extremely effectively, as far as illegal drugs go, when compared with world standards. Because we have taken this kind of approach with reference to illegal drugs, we have managed to contain far better than almost any other Western country the spread of AIDS.
Similarly, with the problems associated with alcohol and tobacco, we can expect this kind of approach to work very effectively. Already we can see a significant reduction in the use of tobacco; similarly, voters followed a campaign
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