ABA highlights cultural change in alcohol consumption

Australia’s alcohol industry body has called for the government to consider the latest insights on alcohol consumption when it outlines the National Preventive Health Strategy.

In a submission to the government, Alcohol Beverages Australia (ABA) has highlighted Australia’s maturing relationship with the use and consumption of alcohol, where drinking in moderation is the new norm.

ABA CEO Andrew Wilsmore said it is time the government gave Australians “a pat on the back” for leading such a significant cultural change.

“The job isn’t completed just yet, but the key drivers of these improvements must feature in any forward-looking preventative health strategy,” he said.

“The vast majority of Australians are now choosing to drink at low-risk levels, including a 50% increase in the number of underage Australians abstaining from alcohol over the past 14 years and an 18% decrease in the number of Australians drinking at lifetime risky levels.”

Announced in 2019, the National Preventive Health Strategy aims to improve the health of Australians through early intervention, better information, and targeting risk factors and the broader causes of health and wellbeing. Part of this strategy is to reduce the harmful consumption of alcohol and its negative impact on society.

The initiative, which is currently being drafted, is part of a larger 10-year framework that will tackle obesity, chronic conditions and tobacco use.

Wilsmore said many people don’t realise that per-capita consumption of alcohol is at its lowest level in 50 years due to Australian’s adjusting the way they drink — choosing to drink less, but often choosing to drink better.

“There have been reductions too in the harms of alcohol, with the government’s own figures showing a 32% decrease in alcohol-related physical violence and a 20% reduction in verbal abuse since 2013.”

ABA supports the proposed target of a 10% reduction in harmful consumption by Australians but recommends it be aligned with the government’s target set in the National Alcohol Strategy, where all states agreed to a 10% reduction between 2019 and 2028.

ABA also urges the final National Preventive Health Strategy to present an important time series analysis to show the improvements across many diseases and risk factors, and to ensure the government’s preventative health policy and regulatory response are appropriate after clearly defining the problems solved.

“Australians are getting healthier. In the most recent Burden of Disease Study, we can see cardiovascular disease has decreased significantly over 40 years, down 36% (age-standardised rate), along with substantial drops in the age-standardised burden attributable to high cholesterol (down 49%), high blood pressure (down 41%) and dietary risk (down 34%),” said Wilsmore.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Jorge