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National Preventative Health Strategy - Overview

Alcohol

Table of contents

First phase (2010–2013)

States and territories to harmonise liquor control regulations, by developing and implementing best practice nationally consistent approaches to the policing and enforcement of liquor control laws
Increase available resources to develop and implement best practice for policing and enforcement of liquor control laws and regulations
Develop the business case for a new COAG national partnership agreement on policing and enforcement of liquor control laws and regulations

Develop and implement a comprehensive and sustained social marketing and public education strategy at levels likely to have significant impact, building on the National Binge Drinking Campaign and state campaigns

In a staged approach, phase out alcohol promotions from times and placements which have high exposure to young people aged up to 25 years, including:
- Advertising during live sport broadcasts
- Advertising during high adolescent/child viewing
- Sponsorship of sport and cultural events
Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the voluntary approach to alcohol promotions agreed by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy (MCDS) in April 2009
Introduce independent regulation through legislation if the co-regulatory approaches are not effective in phasing out alcohol promotions from times and placements which have high exposure to young people up to 25 years

Commission independent modelling under the auspices of Health, Treasury and an industry panel for a rationalised tax and excise regime for alcohol that discourages harmful consumption and promotes safer consumption
Develop the public interest case for minimum (floor) price of alcohol to discourage harmful consumption and promote safe consumption
Direct a proportion of revenue from alcohol taxation towards initiatives that prevent alcohol-related societal harm

Increase access to health services for Indigenous people who are drinking at harmful levels
Support local initiatives in Indigenous communities
Establish and fund a multi-site trial of alcohol diversion programs

Enhance the role of primary healthcare organisations in preventing and responding to alcohol-related health problems
Develop a more comprehensive network of alcohol-related referral services and programs to support behaviour change in primary healthcare
Increase access to primary healthcare services and improve health outcomes for hard-to-reach disadvantaged individuals who are at risk of alcohol-related health problems

Protect the health and safety of children and adolescent brain development by:
- Developing nationally consistent principles and practices regarding the supply of alcohol to minors without parental/guardian consent
- Promoting informed community discussion about the appropriate age for young people to begin drinking
Support parents in managing alcohol issues at all stages of their children’s development through community-level approaches

NPA to develop a system for nationally consistent collection and management of alcohol wholesale sales data to inform key alcohol policy developments and evaluations
NPA to define a set of essential national indicators on alcohol consumption and health and social impacts

Monitor implementation of approaches to the policing and enforcement of liquor control laws
Implement and monitor performance-based national partnership agreement on policing and enforcement
Monitor and evaluate first phase of social marketing strategy
Develop and implement new phase of comprehensive, sustained social marketing strategy
Continue phase out of alcohol promotions from times and placements which have high exposure to young people aged up to 25 years
Introduce new pricing regime, including minimum price, based on work completed in the first phase
Monitor and evaluate impact of new pricing regime
Monitor and evaluate access to health services for Indigenous Australians and generation of new local initiatives
Expand and scale up successful local initiatives for Indigenous Australians
Monitor and evaluate role of primary healthcare organisations in dealing with alcohol-related health problems
Report on progress in building alcohol referral services and programs, and increase in access to disadvantaged groups
Monitor age and initiation of drinking alcohol
Review progress in support to parents in managing teenage drinking behaviours
Improve utilisation of key data sets on the harm to drinkers and harm to others
Expand the collection of patterns of drinking data to include place of drinking, duration of drinking occasion, and reasons for drinking

Evaluate outcomes of national partnership agreement on policing and enforcement
Develop new approaches to policing and enforcement of liquor control laws, based on evaluated outcomes
Monitor and evaluate second phase of social marketing strategy
Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of legislative approaches if implemented
Identify any additional measures required to address alcohol promotion across other media sources
Refine new pricing regime, including minimum price, based on work completed in the first and second phases
Evaluate progress in increasing access to health services and growth in quality and scale of local initiatives during first two phases
Refine and redevelop primary healthcare systems for prevention and treatment of alcohol-related health problems
Implement new approaches to protect children and adolescents from alcohol-related harm based on experience from phases one and two