I used to be a cop. I’ve seen firsthand the damage that alcohol can cause when mis-used. Along the way I became a dad and, like most parents, worry about my kid’s safety. Now, I find myself as Managing Director of Brown-Forman Australia, proud makers of Jack Daniels.
I’m not sure which role has given me the sharper insight into life as most of us know it but if you think that this country recently had a ‘debate’ about alcohol policy, you’re dead wrong.
What was supposed to pass for a war on binge-drinking has turned out to be a well meaning, but badly aimed, paint-ball skirmish – messy, misdirected and ultimately without lasting impact.
For all the focus on so-called ‘alcopops’ and alcohol taxes, it’s easy to forget that the vast majority of Australians enjoy the occasional drink. At home and in restaurants, clubs and pubs most of us drink responsibly, socially and moderately.
However, for those who choose to mis-use alcohol and cause public grief there should be a simple message – no more.
On any given Friday or Saturday night in our cities and towns, you can see how little impact raising taxes or advertising bans have had. Our streets are no safer, our communities no more secure.
Most of us are fed up with the drunks’ anti-social behaviour. At best, their loud and loutish homeward-bound behaviour threatens only our slumber and the wheelie bins parked outside our homes.
At worst, it’s the sickening, nasty violence we see chronicled by the 6 o’clock news on too many nights. Few are forced to face up to the consequences of their actions.
This is the grim reality of the serious abuse of alcohol by a minority of people who drink to get drunk. The first step for those of us looking for a solution is to admit that this is the real drinking problem we face as a community.
If ever there was a time to deal with the drunks on our streets, it’s now. Give our police – those at the coalface night after night – the power and resources to deal with the anti-social behaviour.
We should make public drunkenness an enforceable offence across all states and territories. We need to levy large fines against those who misuse alcohol and arrest those who cause the damage.
I’m not talking about those unfortunate people in our society who need our help but those who do the wrong thing and mis-use alcohol to harm others. It’s time the law caught up with them.
For too long some law-makers have fiddled at the margins and focused on the wrong issues.
If we want to tackle binge-drinking we need to look no further than our efforts on drink driving. We don’t ban cars, close hotels or levy more taxes on those who do the right thing and can least afford it. Instead – and quite rightly – we enforce the law and come down on those who break it.
To change behaviour there has to be a fear of getting caught.
Constant education and regular random breath testing campaigns are fine examples of drink driving prevention – and they work because they instil a real fear of getting caught.
Policing and enforcement are the keys to more secure communities. For those people who choose to mis-use alcohol, there should be a consequence. Without renewing society’s sense of responsibility, we’ll never get to the heart of problem drinking in the community. The binge will just go on.
The distilled spirits industry is committed to finding a solution to binge-drinking – and we’re ready to work with Government, the police and health groups. If there’s a war to be had, let’s wage it where it will make a difference.
Michael McShane is a former NSW Police officer, the current Chair of the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia and Managing Director of Brown-Forman Australia.
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