The sale of bulk liquor at cheap prices and with no safeguards is not in the community's interest
It is indicative that while the debate rages on about the responsible service of alcohol the issue of the responsible consumption of alcohol is ignored. Yesterday's report detailing attempts by Coles and Woolworths to underprice beer to lure people into their liquor traders is disturbing to say the least.
Let's be clear about one thing – people's attitudes to the use and abuse of alcohol are formed well before they enter their first licensed premises.
People bring their attitudes to the pub – the pub doesn't create them.
In fact, in many instances we are left to deal with the consequences and try to change a mind-set towards alcohol that is already well-formed before someone walks through the door of their first hotel. It is a mind-set that all too often comes from underage binge drinking combined with a lack of respect for authority.
A mind-set that has formed around too much alcohol, too readily available, in the main from bulk liquor outlets.
This is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about – the proliferation and sale of cheap alcohol from huge liquor barns.
To suggest it is in the community's interest to make available mass bulk liquor at cheap prices and with no safeguards is ludicrous.
Alcohol isn't bread or milk or toilet paper. There is no social cost in discounting these items. Heavily discounting alcohol, however, has a huge social cost and we are seeing that every day in our suburbs, our cities and towns.
The rise in volume and sales literally flooding the community with hundreds of thousands of litres of cheap liquor is alarming and irresponsible. Now we have Aldi entering the debate wanting to sell cheap alcohol at its 100 stores, while existing liquor outlets want to sell cartons of alcohol cheaper than bottled water!
How can we genuinely tailor solutions to anti-social behaviour while ignoring these liquor barns selling beers cheaper than water?
The fact is that more than 70 per cent of alcohol bought is drunk at home or at a mate's place or in our public places — and this will only rise.
We need to foster the right environment for the responsible consumption of alcohol, not create even better conditions for out-of-control drinking and "pre-fuelling".
Just last year we had a case at Lake Macquarie where young drinkers were having alcohol delivered to their door from bulk liquor outlets.
Two police blitzes in recent months in Sydney alone have netted dozens of drunken teenagers and pre-teens. Last weekend, drunken teenagers even attacked a police car at a park in western Sydney.
We are also seeing the impacts of cheap, bulk liquor at a recent spate of house parties – just last month three officers were injured trying to break up a party at St Marys for example.
Other people are "pre-fuelling" at home on cheap alcohol then heading out to our licensed premises and nightspots already well and truly drunk before they get there.
Hotels are left to take the blame when these people get out of control on our streets and emergency service personnel are left to clean up the mess.
There is no benefit to the community or to society in general from this worrying trend.
The answer is surely not to provide more bulk alcohol to the community at even cheaper prices.
Licensed premises have strict responsible service of alcohol provisions in place. We are the most regulated industry in Australia – and rightly so. Alcohol is a legal product but it needs to be managed responsibly.
Responsible consumption of alcohol is the debate we need to have.
Scott Leach is president of the Australian Hotels Association (NSW).
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