A GENERATION of Australian teenagers has been lost to binge drinking and will not be reached by the Federal Government's anti-drinking campaign, one of Australia's leading drug educators warns.
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Paul Dillon, the director of the private consultancy Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia, said the $53 million National Binge Drinking Strategy was having little effect on a generation of young drinkers habitually misusing alcohol. Emergency wards remain busy. Alcohol sales have held steady.
"I really don't think we're going to see tremendous changes among young teens up to mid-20s. That group have already made their decisions," Mr Dillon said.
"They're sort of like a lost generation, because of the culture they've been brought up in. Their views around alcohol have been pretty well established."
On New Year's Eve,10 per cent of ambulance call-outs were responding to drunkenness. In all, 47 people were taken to hospital in Sydney - more if the figures were to include alcohol-related falls and assaults. Police made 60 arrests and laid 1000 charges, slightly up on last year.
"In the short term we're not going to see significant changes in the number of people drunk. What we're looking for, what the Government is looking for, is changes in attitude," Mr Dillon said.
"What the Government is trying to do is change the culture … I don't think they're expecting to see immediate effects."
The acting Minister for Health and Ageing, Justine Elliot, refused to comment on whether the Government would concede a generation to unchangeable drinking habits. A spokesman said the campaign was focused on "shocking" young people but would not say whether this was a long- or short-term goal.
But the head of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital, Alex Wodak, said awareness campaigns were not effective in reducing drinking.
He said government funding was negligible compared to what the liquor industry spent promoting alcohol.
"You would have to be a wild optimist to expect anything from the campaign … It's a political strategy rather than a strategy based on trying to improve outcomes," Dr Wodak said. "There's no shortage of work [in emergency wards] on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights."
The Australian Hotels Association said there had been no change in the units of alcohol sold in the past year. Since the increased tax on ready-to-drink spirits, people had had simply shifted to other drinks.
"We don't believe there's been a demonstrable drop in the number of standard drinks drunk. There has been a shift in what is drunk," the association's national chief executive, Bill Healey, said.
Mr Dillon said the Government had made a positive stand against alcohol early last year, but that had declined after opposition from liquor interests.
"The Government has to be very careful they don't go too hard too quick, because it's such a part of our culture," he said. "This could be an election loser."
