Mackey Moana: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mackey Moana: Alcohol Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 30 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:5014. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 One of the extraordinary things about this debate on the Alcohol Reform Bill has been the extent to which no matter how people are voting everyone seems to agree that raising the age will not really make much of a difference in and of itself. I agree because in terms of the tools available in my mind the age of purchase is the least effective and the least likely to make any difference despite the fact that it overwhelmingly disproportionately gets most of the attention. 
I want to read out an email that I got from a young woman whom I know very well who said that she would hurt me if I mentioned her name in Parliament so I will not. She said: “Moana as you know I don’t normally pay attention to politics but this drinking-age debate has me really mad. I don’t drink. I’m 18. It’s not for any particular reason that I don’t drink—I just don’t want to. I wish I could give a more scientific insightful answer so politicians could clone me but I can’t. But I am looking forward to graduating this year after 13 years of schooling with my friends. We’ve hired a beach house for the weekend and I was looking forward to my first glass of champagne with mates. Now apparently my elected representatives think that I need to be punished for the bad behaviour of others and maybe after today I won’t be able to do that. What the hell did I do to you guys? My dad drinks way too much. Are you going to stop all 52-year-olds from buying alcohol based on his behaviour? And you wonder why young people don’t engage in politics. Why would we when the only time we hear from you guys is when we are constantly being blamed for all the world’s ills without anyone bothering to talk to us?”. That is from a young woman whom I am very proud of and whom I know very well. 
I agree with all the concerns raised by people about the harm that alcohol does in terms of the brain development of young people in terms of accidents and violence and in terms of crime. But changing the age will not make a blind bit of difference to this. It will not at all. I have read a lot of research. I have read research from people who say: “Yes changing the age will make a difference. Here are two different case studies.” But what those case studies never mention is the different demographics of the communities that they are comparing and whether or not there are public health campaigns that are going on in one area that are not going on in another area. And overwhelmingly they do not mention a trend. They all look at a snapshot in time which does not show the overall trend in alcohol consumption and behaviour. This is a highly complex issue and I urge members away from assuming a causal relationship between alcohol and other factors that they may see happening. It is simply not that easy. 
But alcohol is more visible. There is no question about that. And should we be surprised when we live in the age of video and photo-capable mobile phones of YouTube and of Facebook? It is no surprise. When I went to a party I could have taken any number of videos or photos of dangerous teenage binge drinking but I would have had to carry my clunky camera with the clip-in flash or one of those on-the-shoulder video cameras and wait a week for the film to be processed. It hardly has the same immediacy that a mobile phone and Facebook have. So I urge members to take that into consideration when they think about how much more visible dangerous drinking is at the moment. 
What we need to do is we need to change the attitudes. That will drive the behavioural change. That will change the culture. I understand that it is counter-intuitive but the Alcohol Advisory Council’s own figures tell us that since the drinking age was lowered in 1999 when there was great concern that the number of young people drinking would increase because they would be able to get it from their 18-year-old mates in fact the number of young people drinking has dramatically lowered. It has dropped from 80 percent of under-18-year-olds in 1996 to 32 percent in 2010. We are seeing a cultural shift in that younger age group which has not been there before. Why are we not asking why that is happening and promoting that instead of messing about with this distraction which will not do anything except take our eyes off the ball? 
Why did that culture shift happen? It was not because the age was lowered. It was because when the age was lowered the public concern mounted suddenly a spotlight was put on an activity that before was ignored or tolerated and suddenly public health campaigns were rolled out. When I was at high school no one told me that we should not be binge drinking. No one told us that it was bad for us. There were no ads on TV. There were no public health campaigns. It was largely ignored and binge drinking was tolerated. When the age was lowered to 18 in 1999 that changed. Suddenly the attitudes shifted and that is what has made the difference. Changing the law in terms of the age of purchase will not do anything and I urge members to think about that seriously. 
I say to my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel that I heard that she did not have pre-loading in her generation. We did in ours; we just did not have a word for it. We now know that it is called pre-loading and we did it. It was around then and it was dangerous. 
The most important point I want to make to members—and it is a very serious point—is about the message that we send to young people. Too often in this Chamber young people are always the problem. We wonder why they do not vote. 
Dr Cam Calder 
: We’re not saying that. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: We wonder why voter turnout—that is the message that they are getting Dr Calder. I really appreciate sincerely your views on this issue but the reality is that of the 700000 problem drinkers less than 10 percent are under the age of 20.