Publications
Reports
Preventing alcohol-related harm through the school community: Priorities for action
January 2020. This document outlines evidence-informed and consensus-based priorities for the prevention of alcohol-related harm through Western Australian schools and broader communities. The priorities are intended to be used by health professionals, school staff, and those working within and with the school communities to help guide action to prevent alcohol-related harm among young people.
Position statement: Zero alcohol products
January 2020. This position statement was prepared by the PHAIWA Alcohol Programs Team and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education for use by the public health sector and to inform policy responses to zero alcohol products.
Policy options: How states and territories can take further action on outdoor alcohol advertising
December 2019. This policy options paper outlines how state and territory governments can strengthen restrictions on outdoor alcohol advertising.
Outdoor alcohol advertising in Australia: Snapshot of the current state of play
December 2019. This report outlines current restrictions on outdoor alcohol advertising introduced by state and territory governments in Australia.
"The Instagrammability of Pink Drinks": How alcohol is marketed to women in Australia
November 2019. This report presents commentary from the alcohol industry and examples of alcohol ads to highlight how alcohol is marketed to women in Australia.
Policy position: Online sales and delivery of alcohol
November 2019. The sale and supply of alcohol is regulated in every jurisdiction in Australia because of the risks of consuming alcoholic products. This policy position sets out the principles and rationale for taking regulatory action, and specific recommendations to reduce the risks posed by online sales and delivery of alcohol.
October 2018. This paper, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, critically reviews the industry managed Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code Scheme's Placement Rules and evaluates their ability to effectively regulate the placement of alcohol marketing and provide safeguards for young people in Australia.
The Case for a Minimum (Floor) Price for Alcohol in Western Australia
October 2018. This report by the WA Alcohol and Youth Action Coalition summarises the evidence for the effectiveness of minimum alcohol pricing, explains how a minimum price works, and identifies its likely effect on different groups within the WA community.
Proliferation of ‘healthy’ alcohol products in Australia: implications for policy
August 2018. This paper, published in the journal Public Health Research and Practice, examines how the alcohol industry has responded to a perceived increase in health consciousness among consumers, considers policy implications and provides recommendations to address supposedly healthier alcohol products.
Evaluation of a public education campaign to support parents to reduce adolescent alcohol use
April 2018. This paper, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, evaluated the parent outcomes during 2.5 years of the Parents, Young People and Alcohol public education campaign, which was launched by the Mental Health Commission of the Government of Western Australia, as part of the 'Alcohol.Think Again' program. If you have difficulties accessing the paper, please contact us.
March 2018. This paper, published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia, aimed to assess the volume of unhealthy bus shelter ads near schools in five local government areas in Perth, Western Australia and to monitor whether the volume of unhealthy ads varied seasonally. If you have difficulties accessing the paper, please contact us.
February 2018. This report provides an overview of the nature, extent, and impact of alcohol promotion, with a specific focus on the influence of alcohol promotion on young people.
Alcohol in the University Setting: A Resource to Support Australian Universities
November 2017. This resource aims to support universities to develop and implement a comprehensive university alcohol policy. The resource includes summaries of key research on alcohol use by university students, the rationale for a comprehensive alcohol policy within universities, characteristics of effective workplace alcohol policies, and strategies and considerations for responding to alcohol in the university setting. It also includes an example alcohol policy for a hypothetical university and extracts of useful policy provisions from Australian universities.
July 2017. This paper, published in Public Health Research and Practice, describes the development and implementation of the Alcohol Advertising Review Board (AARB), a world-first public health advocacy initiative that encourages independent regulation of alcohol advertising.
Alcohol-related Harms in Western Australian Electoral Districts
February 2017. This report by the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth, the National Drug Research Institute and the WA Alcohol and Youth Action Coalition provides estimates of alcohol-related harms in each of the 59 WA Lower House Electoral Districts, based on the best available data.
Alcohol promotions in Australian supermarket catalogues
September 2016. This paper, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, documented the nature and variety of promotional methods used by two major supermarket retailers to promote alcohol products in their supermarket catalogues.
Results from a bus stop audit in Perth, WA
March 2016. This document provides a snapshot of the volume of alcohol, junk food and sugary drink advertising on bus stop hoardings in Perth, Western Australia.
Industry Guides
Guides to the Alcohol Industry
The McCusker Centre has released a series of guides to the major alcohol companies, sales outlets, and alcohol industry peak bodies and representative groups in Australia. The links to the three guides are available below.
Major Alcohol Companies in Australia: Producers and Distributors
June 2017. This document is a guide to the major alcohol companies in Australia and how they fit into the global alcohol industry. It outlines major alcohol companies and the products they produce, own, distribute or market.
June 2017. This document is a guide to the major alcohol sales outlets in Australia.
Peak Bodies and Representative Groups
June 2017. This document is a brief guide to the peak bodies and representative groups relevant to the alcohol industry in Australia. The brief guides include summaries of the industry groups' positions on a number of alcohol policy areas.
Factsheets
The Case for a Minimum (Floor) Price for Alcohol in WA
July 2018. The WA Alcohol and Youth Action Coalition has developed a brief summary of the case for minimum alcohol pricing, in response to the WA Health Minister's announcement that minimum pricing will be considered to prevent the sale of very cheap alcohol. Minimum pricing is a regulatory measure that sets a floor price per standard drink below which alcohol cannot be sold.
Alcohol: Drinking patterns and harms in Australia and WA
September 2017. Alcohol-related harm is a whole of community problem; it is not an issue limited to a small number of 'problem drinkers'.
Alcohol and Young People: Drinking patterns and harms
August 2017. Alcohol-related harm is a whole-of-community problem that impacts on young people in a range of important ways. Community concern about alcohol and young people is high.
Alcohol Advertising and Young People
August 2017. Alcohol is one of the most heavily marketed products in the world. Young people are frequently exposed to alcohol promotion, including through product packaging that would be expected to appeal to them and advertising that targets younger age groups.
McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth
April 2014. Find out more about the McCusker Centre and the work we do.
Alcohol and Violence in Australia
April 2014. Alcohol use, particularly at high levels, is a significant risk factor for violence. Alcohol-related violence affects the whole community, well beyond those directly involved in an alcohol-related incident.
Alcohol and Young People: What works to prevent harm?
April 2014. Harm from alcohol is preventable. Good evidence is available about what works to prevent harm. Many of the approaches that will reduce alcohol harms among young people will also be effective in reducing harm among the whole population.
Market Research
WA survey, Setting a minimum price for alcohol
Survey questions included: attitudes toward alcohol-related harm and availability of cheap alcohol, support for the WA government in ensuring that alcohol products are not sold for cheaper prices than bottled water or soft drinks, support for minimum pricing for alcohol, support at $1 per standard drink, support at $1.25 per standard drink, and support at $1.50 per standard drink.
Survey questions included: extent of Australian children's exposure to alcohol promotion, concern about children's current level of exposure to alcohol promotion, community support for using legal controls to reduce children's exposure to alcohol promotion, extent to which children who watch sport on TV are exposed to alcohol promotion, Do you think it is acceptable for alcohol to be promoted in connection with sport?, Do you think it is appropriate for alcohol ads to feature sport stars that are popular with children?, Do you think motor sports should be able to promote alcohol, such as having alcohol brand sponsors?, are popular sports such as AFL, NRL and cricket are doing enough to promote healthy messages to the community?, community support for phasing out TV commercials for alcohol during sports broadcasts in children's viewing times, and support for phasing out promotion of alcohol through sports sponsorship.
Survey questions included: Concern about alcohol use among young people, What concerns you most about alcohol and young people?, Are governments doing enough to prevent alcohol-related harm among young people?, How much do you think children and young people are exposed to alcohol advertising and sponsorship?, Do you believe that parents' own drinking influences their children's drinking behaviour?, Do you believe that parents who limit children's access to alcohol reduce the likelihood of their child drinking?, community support for all school students having regular, well-resourced alcohol and drug education, support for public education to raise awareness of secondary supply laws, support for removing alcohol ads from buses used for school runs, support for extensive public education campaigns aimed at reducing alcohol harms, support for police powers to ensure liquor outlets do not sell to minors, support for removing alcohol advertising from buses and bus stops to reduce young people's exposure, support for legal controls to reduce young people's exposure to alcohol advertising.
Survey questions included: concern about alcohol use among young people, concern about alcohol-related violence in Australia, should reducing harm from alcohol be a priority issue for governments?, are governments doing enough to prevent alcohol-related harm?, support for legal controls to reduce young people's exposure to advertising, support for phasing out TV commercials for alcohol during sports broadcasts, support for phasing out promotion of alcohol through sports sponsorship, support for limiting alcohol advertising on TV to late night programming only, support for changing Australia's tax system according to alcohol content.
Survey questions inlcuded: Concern about alcohol use among young people; What concerns you most about on alcohol and young people?; Are governments doing enough to prevent alcohol-related harm among young people?; Concern about Leaver celebrations; Exposure of children to alcohol advertising and sponsorship; Community support for alcohol and drug education, public education campaigns, secondary supply legislation, additional police powers to ensure liquor outlets do not sell to minors, removing alcohol advertising from buses and bus stops to reduce young people's exposure and legal controls to reduce young people's exposure to alcohol advertising.
WA survey, Liquor Control Act Review Recommendations, January 2014
Survey questions included: Support for education campaigns, support for easier community participation in the liquor licensing process, support for regulations to restrict alcohol promotional activity which is likely to impact on children or encourage irresponsible consumption of alcohol, support to enhance objectives of the WA Liquor Control Act to include minimising harm or ill health in the community related to alcohol, support for recommendation to make it a criminal offence to deliver liquor purchased online to juveniles, and support for recommendation that higher risk sales outlets should pay extra for licenses to help fund community education on alcohol.
Survey questions included: Concern about alcohol-related violence in Australia; Concern about alcohol use among young people; Are Governments doing enough to prevent alcohol related harm?; Should reducing harms from alcohol be a priority for 2013 Federal Election?; Support for legal controls to reduce young people’s exposure to alcohol advertising; Support for taxing alcohol products in proportion to the volume of alcohol they contain.
Survey questions included: Concern about alcohol use among young people in WA; Concern about alcohol-related violence in WA; Do you think that Governments are doing enough to prevent alcohol-related harm?; Support for legal controls to reduce young people’s exposure to alcohol advertising; Support for additional police powers to ensure liquor outlets do not sell to minors.
Survey questions included: Support for students having regular, well-resourced alcohol and other drug education; Support for introduction of laws to prevent the supply of alcohol to minors without parental permission; Support for phasing out of alcohol sponsorship of sporting events if governments provided replacement funding.
Submissions
Submission to FSANZ Proposal on Pregnancy warnings on alcoholic beverages proposal
October 2019
Submission to Inquiry into age verification for online wagering and online pornography
October 2019
Submission to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Digital Platforms Inquiry
February 2019
Submission to inquiry into the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Prohibition Bill 2015
November 2017
Case Studies
Community Action Case Study: Campaign against a proposed liquor outlet in Swan View
April 2016. Community Action Case Study on the campaign against a proposed liquor outlet in the Swan View by the Swan View Action Group.
Community Action Case Study: Campaign to Introduce Secondary Supply Laws in WA
April 2016. Community Action Case Study on the campaign to introduce secondary supply laws in Western Australia by Samantha Menezes.