WE NEED TO ADDRESS THE FUNDAMENTALS IN RELATION TO YOUNG AUSTRALIANS

There is no doubt, that more than at any time before, the community, the media and our legislators are firmly focused on the issues that surround young people and alcohol use and abuse. The NSW Government as a result of the Alcohol Abuse Summit in 2003, and the more recent ‘Review of alcohol beverages that may target young people’ has increased its profile in addressing youth alcohol issues.
   A recent lecture by Prof. Fiona Stanley from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research for the the Kenneth Myer lecture on the topic of children in contemporary Australia, revealed many disturbing patterns that have emerged among the young people of today. Professor Stanley outlines that in the past 7 to 15 years:

• Obesity has increased in youth by 10 per cent;
• The number of children in care and protection has increased;
• Diabetes has tripled;
• Increases in juvenile crime;
• Suicides have increased;
• Reported cases of child abuse has increase by 24,000;
• The number of young women smoking and drinking
• has increased;
• Increased drinking by 12 year olds;
• Increased use by 14 year olds and over, of amphetamines,
• ecstasy, injection of drugs, and marijuana.

   From this point, if our society is to address the psychosocial issues of young Australians, then the misuse of alcohol needs to be seen as part of a wider ranging scope, which addresses the fundamental issues. It is clear that alcohol misuse is merely one symptom of a complex issue.
   Young people have a huge range of pressures placed on them today by an expectant older generation who want them to achieve more at an earlier age than ever before and then wonder why they seek to emulate adult behaviour – and this phenomenon is certainly not restricted to alcohol.
   The issue of youth and alcohol is not as simple as it is often made out to be. It’s always easy to get a cheap headline, conduct a vox pop and blame the product, or its colour or flavour, or its advertising or marketing, and not focus on some of the other basic issues that are associated with the consumption of alcohol by minors. Unfortunately this is too often the case, and does nothing to advance the cause of helping young people.
   Criticisms of alcohol tend to be on a continuum. RTDs are cited as the current problem, when ten years ago it was wine coolers and before that cider.
   Today it is fashionable to call for further restrictions on alcohol advertising, but this ignores the fact that there is no sound research that links the alcohol industry with abuse and denies the history of America’s prohibition that saw drinking and criminal activity reach record heights, while ignoring the record levels of alcoholism in countries which have no advertising.
   The alcohol industry does not disguise the fact that it needs to make a profit to survive but it is not a question of ‘sell at any cost’. The industry has a long history of working with other stakeholders to constructively address areas of abuse. Often before the issues have become fashionable and without fanfare. Artificially generated sensational media headlines do little to address the problems of underage alcohol abuse but distract those seriously concerned to genuinely address the problem.
   There is no black and white in this issue, but if people are ‘fair dinkum’ in wanting to address the issue of underage drinking they will sit around the table and discuss solutions instead of firing cheap shots from behind parapets.
   DSICA acknowledges that underage drinking is a concern and needs to be addressed by a whole range of stakeholders, including industry, parents and the Government if any real progress is to be made in addressing the wider fundamental problem and not just one symptom of that problem.