Violence and Alcohol Availability

Study links violence increase with increased liquor stores

AM - Friday, 15 February , 2008 08:25:00
Reporter: David Weber
TONY EASTLEY: New research shows a strong correlation between an increase in liquor outlets and alcohol-related violence, but the surprising finding is that most of that violence is happening in peoples’ homes, and not in pubs and clubs.The National Drug Research Institute says it’s developed a new model to predict the social impacts of any new liquor outlets, anywhere. David Weber reports from Perth.
DAVID WEBER: Dr Tanya Chikritzhs says the fact that most alcohol-related violence is happening in homes was not surprising to her, but the magnitude was.
TANYA CHIKRITZHS: Whether it’s purchased at a hotel or a tavern and drunk at the time, and the person goes home drunk or whether it’s takeaways bought from the liquor store, the majority of the violence is actually occurring in domestic settings. What’s probably more disturbing than that really is that the data we’re talking about are just stuff that comes to police attention, stuff that’s reported to officials.You know, if you consider that that’s the minority, maybe one in 10 of all domestic violence incidents that occur that might involve alcohol, we’re talking about the tip of the iceberg here.
DAVID WEBER: The study found that if there were to be another hotel in metropolitan Perth, the number of domestic violence assaults would go up by 17 a year. The study says that if a new liquor store started up in the Wheatbelt region, domestic assaults would increase by 29 each year. Dr Chikritzhs:
TANYA CHIKRITZHS: It does seem to be a greater, a stronger relationship between availability of alcohol and problems, particularly in relation to assault in non-metropolitan areas. The Wheatbelt is an area that really stands out for us in WA. You know, compared to say, the metropolitan area.
DAVID WEBER: With alcohol-related violence, a lot of the studies tend to show up that Indigenous people are affected. Are the results in this study skewed because of that?
TANYA CHIKRITZHS: Well, I mean it’s a very good question because it’s quite a well-known problem among Indigenous communities, harmful use of alcohol. What this study has done has accepted that that is a reality and taken that on board as part of the model-building process.But just like to make the point that alcohol-related harm is not only an Indigenous problem. You know, for just in the Northern Territory for instance, if you took all Indigenous drinking out of the Northern Territory, the levels of problems in the Territory would still be 50 per cent higher than the national average.
DAVID WEBER: In an attempt to combat the perception that Perth is a boring city, the West Australian Government has been encouraging the establishment of wine bars.But in Victoria, deregulation of liquor licensing has coincided with a drastic increase in the rate of alcohol-related harm. The rate’s increasing at three-times the national average.Dr Tanya Chikritzhs says WA needs to take care when pushing for more wine bars.
TANYA CHIKRITZHS: If a wine bar is a restaurant that doesn’t have to sell food, it’s nothing … not much more than a hotel or a tavern. So that’s what we could be seeing is the proliferation, essentially, of small hotels and taverns. You can’t get around the fact that increased alcohol availability leads to increased consumption, leads to increased alcohol-related harm, and that’s the bottom line.
TONY EASTLEY: Dr Tanya Chikritzhs of the National Drug Research Institute, speaking with our reporter, David Weber, in Perth.