NEWS: News.com.au - 21/02/08 'Rudd Government to tackle binge drinking'

Rudd Government to tackle binge drinking
By Adam Gartrell and Peter Veness
February 20, 2008 04:10pm

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is looking at ways to tackle what he says is a worsening "epidemic" of binge drinking.

Mr Rudd said after speaking with police officers around the country, he was convinced alcohol abuse was a growing problem.

"It's starting to get somewhat out of hand," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio Network.

"I am concerned about what I describe as an epidemic of binge drinking across the country. I think it's not good.

"I've already begun to have some discussions with the federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon about what we might do on this front."

Alcohol is the second biggest contributor – after smoking – to Australia's chronic disease burden. Alcohol-related harm is estimated to cost the community in excess of $15bn annually.

Family First Senator Steve Fielding said he had spoken at length with Mr Rudd about binge drinking and was gratified that he had listened.

"It's a huge issue and I think the prime minister is quite rightly realising it is a growing problem, not just sort of static," Senator Fielding said.

Senator Fielding last year introduced into Parliament an Alcohol Toll Reduction Bill, which a Senate inquiry is examining.

The Bill would require health information labels to be placed on alcohol products, require alcohol advertising to be approved by a government body, and restrict alcohol ads to after 9pm and before 5am.

Alcohol ads aimed at children or which link drinking to personal, business, sporting, social or sexual success would be banned under Senator Fielding's Bill.

The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AERF), which earlier this month released results of a survey showing Australia's binge drinking culture persists, welcomed Mr Rudd's focus on the issue.

AERF chief executive Daryl Smeaton said his foundation's efforts to draw attention to the problem had fallen on deaf ears with the previous Government.

"It's the first time I can recall a prime minister saying alcohol abuse is an epidemic and binge drinking is a part of it," he said.

Mr Smeaton said Senator Fielding's proposals were good, but steps also needed to be taken to limit the availability of alcohol.

Chairman of the Australian Medical Association Public Health Committee John Gullotta said the adverse health effects of binge drinking were "severe".

"It affects the liver, and also has psychological effects and effects on the ability to make decisions, which can lead to promiscuity and people acting irrationally."

Dr Gullotta said a comprehensive education campaign was needed.

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Girl, 12, 'drank until she passed out'
By staff writers
February 21, 2008 11:32am

A TWELVE-year-old girl drank until she passed out, and then opened a can of rum when she came to, at an out-of-control suburban party, her rescuer says.

Just a day after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said binge-drinking was a "worsening epidemic" a woman told the Cairns Post that children as young as nine were at a wild party that was busted up by police in Cairns on Saturday night.

The teenager, who wanted to be known only as Shelby, told the newspaper that she tried to help a drunk primary school-aged girl recover – only to see her drinking later on.

“One girl was spewing up her guts and then she blacked out… (she) was about 11 to 12 years old,” 18-year-old Shelby said.

“I stayed with her and helped her.”

She later saw the same girl drinking from a can of rum. Shelby said she was shocked to see so many children drinking when she arrived at the party – which was held to celebrate a 16-year-old boy’s birthday.

“A few years ago you would not have seen a 12-year-old at a party like that,” she said.

“Now kids are jumping out of their windows to get to these parties.

“I don’t think many parents know their kids are getting drunk at such a young age.”

The party, held in southwest Cairns, attracted hundreds of gatecrashers – as well as eight police cars and the dog squad.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister said he will be looking at ways to fight the binge-drinking after speaking to police from around the nation.

“It's starting to get somewhat out of hand," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio Network.

"I am concerned about what I describe as an epidemic of binge drinking across the country. I think it's not good.

"I've already begun to have some discussions with the Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon about what we might do on this front."

With The Cairns Post and AAP

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EDITORIAL - Tackling our booze culture
February 22, 2008 12:00am

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd's decision to target binge drinking is a welcome initiative to curb the nation's unhealthy booze culture.

In an environment where we now have mega-venues, 24-hour nightclubs, and a huge growth in licensed pubs, it is more than timely to be raising the alarm.

We have said repeatedly that the biggest single social issue facing our community is the immoderate consumption of alcohol.

A habitual, unhealthy and widespread reliance on turning to booze is especially damaging to our young.

The problem is also linked to crime rates and it is refreshing the Federal Government - at the urging of Family First senator Steve Fielding - has expressed a need to urgently examine the issues of alcohol labelling, health warnings, education and availability.

Today, the architect of Victoria's policies on licensed venues, John Nieuwenhuysen (pictured), also expresses his concerns that the city's entertainment controls have gone off the rails.

Professor Nieuwenhuysen had originally designed the state's policies on a theme of smaller venues, operating within reasonable hours along the lines of European bars and licensed cafes.

But regulators have allowed Victoria to become awash with open-all-hours booze halls where drunks roll out and on to the streets. It's time reimpose some limits.

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Liquor law pioneer urges crackdown
John Ferguson
February 22, 2008 12:00am

THE architect of Victoria's liberal liquor laws wants a crackdown on booze barns. Nightclubs catering for hundreds and even thousands of patrons were unhealthy and against the spirit of his reforms, said John Nieuwenhuysen.

The professor created Victoria's booming bar and licensed restaurant industry in the 1980s with his ground-breaking report into the Liquor Control Act.

He said the Brumby Government should crack down on what he said were the "almost uncontrollable" nightclubs.

"Now the concentration of these clubs down in the CBD and Queen and King streets is obviously leading to anti-social behaviour," Dr Nieuwenhuysen said.

"Residents are not happy; there's violence, there's fighting.

"There's reports of people obviously being drunk and having too much alcohol in them inside the premises -- the vomiting and the fighting."

Overall, he said his reforms had lifted Melbourne into a European-style city.
"But I do acknowledge that the larger establishments, the nightclubs are causing trouble," he added.

Former Labor premier John Cain said Dr Nieuwenhuysen's 1986 report had been a great success.

"And the results of it are to be applauded too," Mr Cain told the Herald Sun.

Since the report was delivered, the number of liquor outlets has soared from about 3200 to well over 17,000.

But health officials and police are alarmed at the rising abuse of alcohol by the young as well as the increasing incidence of street violence.

Police have been given tougher powers to deal with the CBD and Prahran club violence, but there remains a strong push to also deal with health risks facing patrons.

In other developments:

ONE of the state's most senior youth workers has backed Dr Nieuwenhuysen's criticism of booze barns.

VICHEALTH CEO Todd Harper called for a moratorium on liquor licences amid concern about the availability of alcohol.

MENTAL Health Minister Liz Neville said there was no quick fix for the alcohol problem, warning of deep cultural ties with grog.

THE former head of the premier's drug prevention council wants greater curbs on liquor outlets.

Youth Substance Abuse Service CEO David Murray said that in 2002 the proportion of clients presenting with alcohol as a primary problem was 7 per cent. It had since jumped to 26 per cent.

"Our population is a bit like the canary down the mine," he said. It's telling us something's going on around this issue."

He agreed with Dr Nieuwenhuysen on the liquor licence problem.

"The small cafe-like bars where people come and sit and eat are not the problem," Mr Murray said. "The problem is the big barns. I agree with that."

Rob Moodie, professor of global health at Melbourne University's Nossal Institute, said there had been two new liquor licences approved each day for the past 21 years.

"We've got a big issue," Prof Moodie said. "It's time to say enough is enough."

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Alcohol as bad as heroin
John Ferguson
February 22, 2008 12:00am

ALCOHOL is the new heroin. Not since the heroin epidemic of the 1990s has so much attention or government effort been focused on the harm caused by a mind-altering substance.

Just as supply was a central issue with the heroin epidemic, the Brumby Government is closely looking at how alcohol is delivered to consumers of all ages.

Mental Health Minister Lisa Neville has made it clear that supply issues -- through pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes -- are on the Government's agenda.

But Ms Neville also insists there is no cure-all for alcohol's health risks.

The Government's response will be through a four-minister alcohol taskforce, which will report mid-year, and the new expert body on alcohol and drugs, headed by neurologist and addiction expert, Prof Jon Currie.

On the growing call for a curb in the number of liquor licences, Ms Neville says any decisions must be evidence-based.

"I don't think we know enough about that (the evidence) yet and that's some of the work that will be feeding in through the alcohol action plan," Ms Neville told the Herald Sun.

"Does density make a difference? Is it certain types of liquor licences? Is it certain outlets? Are restaurants and cafes that have liquor licences OK? But not these nightclubs? Is that the problem?

"And I think we need to be clear about that to make sure that we're making the right decisions where we might intervene."

Central to the Government's response will be trying to change the way the community views alcohol -- not to create a wowser state but to discourage binge drinking among the young, in part through marketing.

"We need to find the right message," Ms Neville says.

"We have to be realistic about what's going to shift behaviours and help young people make responsible decisions. And help parents understand what their messages are."

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Industry blasted for pushing spirit shots
Antonia Magee, John Ferguson, Susie O'Brien
February 22, 2008 12:00am

SHOTS of liquor are being marketed as an alternative to hard drugs by publicans embracing binge drinking to boost profits.

Health officials and industry experts are alarmed at the rise in the promotion and use of shots -- strong spirits served in small glasses.

Community Alcohol Action Network director Geoff Munro said drinking patterns had changed and the alcohol industry was the catalyst.

"There is a sense that the alcohol industry, including the manufacturers, hotels and bars, set out to rebadge alcohol as a drug and to create alcohol and to promote the shots as a way of competing with illegal drugs," Mr Munro said.

The popularity of Jagermeister and vodka bombs consumed along with energy drinks were enabling people to get drunk faster. This was in a similar way to the instant kick of some illicit drugs.

The use of Agwa, a Bolivian coca-based spirit banned in New York, is also alarming experts.

Managing director of alcohol importer World Brands Australia, Paul Wormley, said the industry should clean up its act.

"I see the way some products are marketed and sold and I don't want to be sitting here in 20 years' time while the industry is being crucified. It should really clean up its act with some of these products," said Mr Wormley, who also owns a bar.

The concern is matched by anecdotal evidence. One young patron told the Herald Sun that drinking shots filled a void. A Moonee Ponds student, 25, said drinking shots gave an instant buzz.

Associate Prof John Fitzgerald, of Melbourne University's School of Population Health, warned there were dangerous risks associated with the trend.

"If you can have a higher level of alcohol in your system much more quickly, it actually poses a significant health risk," he said.

"The industry had a concerted effort to shift the balance to ready-to-drink (products). They were picking up that the younger population and women wanted to drink in that type of way.

"The alcohol content is higher and the effect is much more immediate."

Youth Substance Abuse Service chief executive officer David Murray warned of a cultural problem that started with adults.

"That translates through to young people picking up that behaviour," he said.

A new survey shows that a third of people in their early 20s drink too much alcohol, with some regularly drinking up to four times the recommended safe limit.

University of Otago, New Zealand, researchers found a heavy-drinking culture allowed young people to see their behaviour as normal.

More than 1000 25-year-olds were interviewed about their drinking in the past four years, and 351 said they had problems with alcohol.

Just 26 sought any treatment -- a mere 2.5 per cent, according to the research published in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

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Adults' attitude leads to binging
Jane Holroyd
February 25, 2008 - 5:39PM

Society's acceptance of drunkenness is largely responsible for alarming new statistics that show binge drinking has become normal among Australian teenagers, the head of the Government's main drugs advisory body said today.

A new Australian National Council on Drugs research paper found one in 10 people aged 12 to 17 had abused alcohol in the past week.

The problem of binge drinking - defined as five or more standard drinks for a female or more than seven drinks for a male - was most pronounced among 16- and 17-year-olds, with one in five binging on alcohol at least once a week.

Dr John Herron, chair of the ANCD described the statistics as frightening.

"None of us had any idea that one in five 17-year-olds were getting smashed at least once a week," he said. "It's terrible.

"Once upon a time a rite of passage was getting your drivers' licence (but ) now it's get your drivers' licence and get drunk," said Dr Herron.

He said adults were partly responsible for setting a bad example to young people about acceptable levels of alcohol consumption.

The ANCD report found more than 450,000 children live in homes where adults binge drink, but Dr Herron said even drinking lesser amounts was problematic because it sent a message that drinking was normal and not harmful.

"(The reality is) there's no minimum amount of alcohol that will not affect you," he said.

Dr Herron said that ideally adults should demonstrate getting drunk was unacceptable by using the .05 rules for drinking and driving as a guideline for all alcohol consumption.

"You shouldn't let your judgement be affected by alcohol," he said. "That's the message for adults, anyone ... They shouldn't even be doing it at home."

Dr Herron said the ANCD report was a wake-up call for the nation and appealed for governments at all levels to begin assessing the availability and marketing of alcohol, which he described as major factors contributing to binge drinking.

"We've got the statistics and we need to do something about it now.

"Otherwise we'll be sitting around in 10 years saying 'Shock, horror - isn't it terrible (that) it's got worse."

He said comments made today by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in response to the ANCD report were encouraging.

Mr Rudd said governments had a responsibility to act immediately.

"Binge drinking, alcohol abuse, substance abuse, substance addiction, will become part of chronic disease conditions which effect the ability for people to lead a productive and happy life, their ability to be employed," Mr Rudd said today.

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"None of us had any idea that one in five 17-year-olds were getting smashed at least once a week," he said. "It's terrible.

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Teenage boozers on 2020 Summit list
Gerard McManus
February 28, 2008 12:00am

AUSTRALIA's best and brightest at the 2020 Summit will try to solve a problem that has baffled many parents - teenage binge drinking.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed the problem would be part of his 2020 Summit in April, after calls by steering committee member Tim Costello for it to be included.

The World Vision chief is responsible for a session on strengthening communities and supporting families.

Mr Costello will select 100 people for the job.

Mr Rudd yesterday congratulated him, saying the issue was ideal "core business" for the summit.

"I don't have a whole lot of science to back it up . . . but let me tell you as I roll around the country, mums and dads are raising this with me in the supermarkets of the nation on a regular basis," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said better public awareness was the solution to teen binge drinking, but said highly drinkable products were tricking young people.

Ms Gillard told ABC Radio yesterday the problem was not a new one.

"Some of the alco-pops people can drink without quite realising the alcoholic consequences of it, because it tastes like soft drink and it tastes very sweet," she said.

Family First senator Steve Fielding said the Government needed to spend $25 million a year for the next five years on alcohol awareness campaigns.

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Booze-fuelled blues soar across state
Natalie Tkaczuk Sikora
February 29, 2008 12:00am

THE number of booze-fuelled violent attacks across Victoria has soared, with assaults more than doubling in some country areas.

Police figures show that Melbourne's city centre is not alone when it comes to the alcohol-related crime surge.

In some rural areas police fear children as young as 10 are hitting the bottle, with teens and nightclubbers the worst offenders.

Compared with 2000-01, major assaults have escalated by 104 per cent in Whittlesea, almost 50 per cent in Bendigo, 45 per cent in Warrnambool and 38.1 per cent in Geelong.

Supt Shane Cole said Warrnambool's binge-drinking culture was aggravating the problem, despite 1am lockouts at some nightclubs.

The region's top officer said police were continually issuing penalty notices for drinking on Warrnambool's streets, but would not reveal how many.

"We are seeing an increase in alcohol-fuelled violence and assaults, mostly from early teens into the 20s," he said.

"The 1am lockouts have had some impact on offences relating to nightclubs, but it's a deeper related (drinking) culture. It's a serious problem.

"The Chief Commissioner and Premier have been talking about the problem in Melbourne and I don't think it's any different here."

Police in Shepparton are concerned because children as young as 10 have been filmed drinking alcohol.

Photos of several young people drinking at the Shepparton skate park were posted on a teenager's MySpace site.

Sgt Michael Osborne yesterday said the children were between 10 and 17 and some had been spoken to by police.

"I think really it stems back to the parents' responsibility to know where their child is at what time of the day, and keeping an eye on them," he said.

Last week an Albury magistrate noted that glassing attacks were increasing and it seemed glasses were becoming the weapon of choice in pub brawls.

It was not restricted to Sydney's west but seemed to be spreading, magistrate Peter Dare, SC, said when refusing bail for an Albury man charged over a glass attack that almost severed another man's ear.

Mr Dare was told only a small amount of skin was left holding the earlobe, which needed about 40 stitches.

In Victoria's southwest crimes against the person from 2000-01 to 2006-07 in the Moyne Shire soared by 98 per cent, Glenelg's rose 92 per cent, and Southern Grampians' 26 per cent.

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Teen pregnancy 'our greatest danger'
By Tim Byrnes
March 14, 2008 02:40pm

UNWANTED teenage pregnancies following bouts of binge drinking are contributing to the world's unsustainable population growth, a World Health Organisation academic says.

John Gillebaud, a leading academic on birth control, reproductive health and population issues, told a conference in Canberra that unprotected sex leading to unwanted pregnancies is the greatest threat to mankind.

"Every single week a new city of 1.7 million could be created, and the current global population growth is unsustainable," he said by videolink from London.

"Each year, there are around 80 million unwanted pregnancies and 30 million of these are aborted," he said.

"The inconvenient truth is, the world is already overpopulated and soon we may experience shortages of food and water."

Mr Gillebaud said reckless alcohol consumption was the main reason for unwanted teenage pregnancies.

"Alcohol causes more unwanted teenage pregnancies than anything else," he said.

Liberal MP Mal Washer and outgoing chair of the parliamentary committee on population and development, agreed with Mr Gillebaud saying binge drinking was the leading cause of unwanted pregnancies among teenagers in Australia.

Mr Washer applauded the Rudd government's $53 million binge drinking strategy. The strategy includes a $20 million television, radio and internet campaign to shock young people with the consequences of binge drinking.

"I fully back the Rudd government on this issue, and I am sure it will go a long way in addressing the violence and irresponsible behaviour that binge drinking causes," he said.

A British parliamentary report on global population growth also claims that women with numerous pregnancies and lifelong childcare find it difficult to participate in education, employment and politics.

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Rudd gets sport star help for binge-drink fight
David Rood
March 15, 2008

SPORTING stars from rival codes will combine to front a $20 million advertising campaign as part of the Federal Government's bid to confront the problem of binge drinking.

After meeting the heads of Australia's major sports in Melbourne yesterday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the codes represented hundred of thousands of players and were part of the fabric of community life.

"Sport is not the cause of binge drinking. Sportsmen and women are not the cause of the binge-drinking problem across Australia. But sport can be part of the solution," he said.

Describing the advertising as an "in-your-face-campaign", the Prime Minister said it would tell young people, through television, the internet and FM radio, about the effects of binge drinking.

Earlier this week, Mr Rudd announced the $53 million binge-drinking plan, holding the gathering of sporting bosses from Australian football, soccer, rugby league and union, netball and cricket yesterday.

The group decided on a four-point plan to deal with the problem of binge drinking, including the national expansion of Victoria's Good Sports program, developing a unified responsible drinking code, $2 million to appoint senior members of local sporting clubs as responsible drinking ambassadors, as well as the advertising campaign.

The AFL is working on a responsible drinking code with players currently educated on alcohol alongside the issues such as racial vilification, gambling and illicit drugs.

With a senate inquiry considering the relationship between alcohol advertising and sport, Mr Rudd said alcohol companies should still be allowed to sponsor sport.

Asked if sporting stars should be considered role models, Mr Rudd said no one was perfect.

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Relax, it's only alcohol mate'
By Felicity Hetherington
March 15, 2008 12:00am

A FRIEND came back from travelling and said one of the many things he noticed was how the Italians and French didn't go out and get smashed on alcohol.

“What? Don’t go out and get smashed, what’s the point of drinking?” I asked in the shocked voice of a person who has grown up surrounded by rapid alcohol consumption.

He said Italian teenagers looked down on friends who drank too much, and excluded them from their group if they were repeat offenders.

It’s called the "Mediterranean approach" where families have alcohol as part of a regular diet, leaving it free from the rebellious, right-of-passage image that it holds in countries such as Australia, England and the US.

It's a strategy that Kevin Rudd should include in his $53 million fight to stop binge-drinking among Australian teens.

Rather than the tried-and-tested ads of teenagers falling in their own pools of vomit with haunting music in the background, the Government should broadcast black and white ads with attractive, sophisticated teens in a rural, rustic setting, sitting around a large table laden with crusty loaves of bread, olives and smoked meats.

They will be shown taking delicate sips of wine, while engrossed in conversation and surrounded by laughter. The person who can't control themselves and starts throwing down the wines, becoming drunk throughout the ad, is depicted as an embarrassment.

Do you think it would work? I don't. But it would probably be just as effective as Rudd's plans to get AFL and rugby players wagging the finger, and local sporting clubs, which admit that alcohol is part of the social fabric, suddenly warning young members about the dangers of binge drinking.

If Rudd is serious about trying to end the deeply ingrained culture of teenage binge-drinking, and doesn't want this initiative to be seen as just another waste of taxpayers money, organised religion behind the curtain, or God help us, a way to stop unsustainable population growth, then he has to implement a strategy that involves more than shock-tactic ads, and local sporting clubs.

Just like cigarettes have finally become unfashionable after years and years of sustained campaigning, binge-drinking has to be treated with the same approach. One of the keys will be a cultural shift from Australia's binge-drinking as a right of passage to the Mediterranean approach of "it's only alcohol mate".

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Rather than the tried-and-tested ads of teenagers falling in their own pools of vomit with haunting music in the background, the Government should broadcast black and white ads with attractive, sophisticated teens in a rural, rustic setting, sitting around a large table laden with crusty loaves of bread, olives and smoked meats.

They will be shown taking delicate sips of wine, while engrossed in conversation and surrounded by laughter. The person who can't control themselves and starts throwing down the wines, becoming drunk throughout the ad, is depicted as an embarrassment.

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Liquor giants axe extra-strong drinks
Ben Packham
March 21, 2008 12:00am

BOOZE-laced energy drinks and extra-strong pre-mixed spirits will be axed by Australia's biggest alcohol companies.

Foster's Group and Lion Nathan revealed the move yesterday, sparking a call by the Rudd Government for other companies to follow suit.

But another major supplier of ready-to-drink alcohol products, Independent Distillers, refused to even discuss the initiative.

"We are not going to enter the debate," a spokesman for the Auckland-based company said.

Independent Distillers supplies a number of high-strength pre-mixed products and alcoholic energy drinks favoured by teens.

They include Crazy Mexican tequila and guarana, Woodstock bourbon and cola, and Pulse -- a vodka energy drink.

Foster's and Lion Nathan said they would no longer produce alcoholic energy drinks, and the alcohol content of other products would be limited to two standard drinks a serve.

The move follows a push by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to crack down on what he said was a binge-drinking epidemic.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said it was a step in the right direction, but there was more to be done.

"We hope that this is the beginning of a wider appetite among companies . . . for change," she said.

"This is a community-wide problem that demands a community-wide response."

Another supplier of ready-to-drink products, Diageo, made a similar decision last year.

The Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia said pre-mixed drinks would continue to be abused.

"They are still a recipe for disaster," chief executive David Templeman said.

"They need to stop their targeted campaigns where these things are made very attractive to kids."

Six current Foster's and Lion Nathan products will be affected.

Foster's Cougar Volt, a bourbon energy drink, will no longer be produced, while Cougar XS, a bourbon-and-cola product, will have its alcohol content reduced.

Its Karloff Energy vodka drink will also be withdrawn.

Lion Nathan's McKenna Energy, a bourbon drink, will be axed, while another McKenna bourbon drink will have its strength reduced.

A 9 per cent alcohol content Inner Circle rum and cola will also have its strength reduced.

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Drinking age could be lifted to 21
March 23, 2008 01:29am

THE legal drinking age could be lifted to 21 if attempts fail to curb binge drinking among the young, according to the Victorian Government's top alcohol adviser.

Professor Jon Currie, chairman of the Victorian Drug and Alcohol Prevention Council, says lifting the legal drinking age would be a "last resort" but one that should be a definite option.

The Sunday Age said Professor Currie will make recommendations to the Brumby Government within the next few months on how to deal with the growing level of alcohol abuse by young people.

Prof Currie, director of addiction medicine and mental health at St Vincent's Hospital, said if social, educational and parental strategies failed to change dangerous drinking habits, "governments will inevitably look at legal ramifications or legal restrictions".

"There might be a two year discussion period that would give a very strong message to people that either we change the environment ourselves or the government will do it," Prof Currie said.

In the US and some provinces in Canada, 21 is the legal drinking age.

Deakin University professor of health psychology John Toumbouruo said he was a strong supporter of lifting the legal drinking age to 21.

"In countries or states where it has been introduced there has been a 15 per cent reduction of deaths and harm related to alcohol," he said.

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