Damien O'Connor: Big effort in train to put an end to our boozy culture

Damien O'Connor

Ross Bell, of the Drug Foundation, said in an article on this page that New Zealand has a drinking problem. He's absolutely right. We are labouring under a drinking culture that is unsophisticated and often harmful. We are partial to a drink or eight, and about half of us think it's okay to get drunk.

Right around the country, across all ages, classes and races, New Zealanders are getting drunk, often to their detriment and that of their community.

It's not liquor that's the issue - in fact our total consumption is well within World Health Organisation guidelines - it's how we use it. The problem we face is how much we down in one drinking stint.

Harking back to the policy decisions of successive governments and laying blame at their feet will not address the issue. What is needed is a long-term strategy to improve drinking habits and reduce harm. Hence Cabinet's approval last year of the Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) levy increase.

The increase is helping to fund a comprehensive programme of work to change our drinking culture. Consisting of a marketing campaign and a range of associated initiatives, the programme marks a big step towards reducing the huge economic and social costs of alcohol harm.

The first phase of the marketing activity aims to get people thinking about how drunkenness can cause harm; the next phase will encourage us to analyse our own attitude to heavy drinking and our own behaviour, and to understand and recognise the risk we are putting ourselves, let alone others, at.

Why did we make the decision to tackle the culture of drunkenness? Because it's the crux of the problem. And because by doing so we're saying that every single one of us has a responsibility to improve our drinking habits - not just youth, not just those in their early 20s and not just those at the local Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Critics of the programme have described it as everything from "a mere advertising campaign" to a "waste of time". Some say the Government is naive to endorse it.
But I ask these people to show me a solution that's more worthy of support than one that improves society's attitude to liquor.

The Drug Foundation calls for strong policy measures, including increased taxes, an increased alcohol purchase age, a blanket ban on liquor advertising on television and strengthening of the Sale of Liquor Act.

The Government is not ignoring policy intervention options. It has increased alcohol tax, it acknowledges outlet density issues, and it has asked officials to look at options for a Government-led review of advertising.

But none of these measures - separately or collectively - will stop New Zealanders going out and getting blotto, if that's what they want to do, and if they believe doing so is harmless. Let's be realistic. Liquor is part of our culture and when used appropriately it is enjoyable and harmless.

The Government is not looking to make its purchase prohibitive for those who wish to drink safely, or to banish it by stealth.

It is not advocating that people stop drinking (although for some this is necessary); it just wants them to be responsible and aware of the dangers of excessive consumption.

The solution lies in helping people to make the connection between the way they drink and potential harms.

The Culture Change Programme is not being carried out in a vacuum. A range of associated initiatives back it up and work is being done in many more areas.

One is enforcement, where there has been some huge progress. Police are actively cracking down on breaches of the Sale of Liquor Act, focusing particularly on the illegal sale of liquor and on intoxicated people in licensed premises.

Their latest initiative, Alcolink, aims to identify premises that are serving patrons to the point where they get into trouble with the law.

When processing suspected offenders, police collect details about the offender's liquor consumption before coming to police attention.

New South Wales police using this system have found a small minority of licensed premises are linked to the overwhelming majority of liquor-related problems. They can then work with these licensees to reduce liquor-related offending and victimisation.

We have robust alcohol laws in place; the focus must be on understanding, recognising and enforcing these laws.

Alac's Working Together conference, held in Auckland on Tuesday, looked at this. It focused on Sale of Liquor Act issues and covered things such as controlled purchase operations and identifying and dealing with intoxication.

A huge commitment was shown at the conference to getting the supply end of things right and to combining forces and knowledge to tackle alcohol issues.

Our drinking culture needs to be turned on its head, which requires more than a law change. It requires a serious and enduring change of attitude - a revolution of sorts.

No one group or person can bring about this change. It calls for collaboration between the Government, non-government organisations, communities, families and, most of all, drinkers themselves.

* Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor is responding to Ross Bell, the executive director of the Drug Foundation, who said that only strong measures, such as returning the age at which people can buy liquor to 20, will repair the damage wrought by a decade of liberal laws.