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distraction for the politically powerful
liquor industry.
Alcohol is not just a common factor in
domestic violence; it is also a common
factor in verbal abuse and physical
violence. Sadly, these are common
experiences.
A few years ago a reputable Drug
Strategy Household Survey found that
about one in four Australians were
victims of alcohol-related verbal abuse;
13 per cent were made to feel fearful
by someone under the influence of
alcohol; and 4.5 per cent aged 14 years
or older had been physically abused by
someone under the influence of
alcohol.
In June 2015, Batty supported calls for
a levy on alcohol to fund more
effective responses to alcohol misuse.
In doing so the courageous campaigner
noted, ‘Alcohol is involved in up to 65
per cent of family violence incidents
reported to police and up to 47 per cent
of child abuse cases in Australia’. She
added, ‘alcohol was also consumed by
the perpetrator in more than a third of
intimate partner homicides’.
A recent Australian study funded by
FARE and undertaken by the Centre
for Alcohol Policy Research found that
‘more than 1 million children are
affected in some way by others’
drinking, 140,000 are substantially
affected and more than 10,000 are in
the child protection system because of
a carer’s drinking’. The study also
found that in 2011 there were almost
30,000 police reported incidents of
alcohol-related domestic violence. This
was the case in just those states where
such data is available: NSW, Victoria,
Western Australia and the Northern
Territory.
As FARE chief executive Michael
Thorn rightly says: ‘Alcohol-related
family and domestic violence occurs all
too frequently in Australia’.
‘Because of the scale of alcohol-related
problems and the large numbers of
children and families affected, as a
society, we need to be doing all we can
to reduce the incidence and severity of
the harms.’
In the circumstances, it is hard to refute
the conclusion that all governments in
Australian ought to embrace a broad
public health approach with a strong
focus on prevention.
It is now clear that there is no quick-
fix, single-bullet solution to Australia’s
domestic violence problem. But it is
also clear that there will be no major
advance in relation to domestic
violence unless and until the policy
responses include some effective
measures to rein in excessive drinking.
Critical to this, as Thorn points out,
will be ‘measures that reduce the
availability, target the price, and
regulate the promotion of alcohol’.
With Australians starting to return from
their holidays still full of New Year’s
resolutions to do better in 2016, it’s
well and truly time that we started to
take seriously the often pivotal role that
alcohol plays in domestic violence.
Emeritus professor of history and politics at
Griffith University, Ross Fitzgerald is the
author of 38 books, including his
memoir My name is Ross: An alcoholic’s
journey.