Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Public Health Association of Australia’s Dr Nic Taylor is calling for the alcohol floor price to be rolled out nationwide

Transcript

Public Health Association of Australia’s Dr Nic Taylor is calling for the alcohol floor price to be rolled out nationwide · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A new research has been published on the effects of
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: minimum alcohol pricing, with the authors saying that the work
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: debunks the industry argument that the measure penalizes all drinkers.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: The Public Health Association of Australia says the analysis, which
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: has been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of Public Health, demonstrates why the measure currently in place
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory is fair and should be
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: operated in other jurisdictions. Now, joining me on the line
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to tell us a little bit more about this research
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  Speaker 1: and what exactly it found is the Public Health Association
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  Speaker 1: of Australia's doctor Nick Taylor.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, doctor Taylor.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: How are you yeah, really good, Thanks so much for
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Now, firstly, what was the aim of this research.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Yes, so basically, the alcohol industry claimed that all drinkers
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: would be harmed by the minimum alcohol price, not just
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: the heavy drinkers that were targeted by the policy. So
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: we set out to test that by examining the financial
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: impact the policy would have had on moderate drinkers.
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  Speaker 1: So obviously, I'm assuming spoke to a number of different
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: people and quite a few people would have taken part
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: in that survey.
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  Speaker 2: Can you talk us through how it worked?
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  Speaker 3: So it was a fifteen minute phone survey and we
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: basically asked people about their what their favorite beverage was,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and their drinking practices, so how often they drank and
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: when they drank, how much they were drinking. We then
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: used that information and looked at the brands that they
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: mentioned and saw how much those prices were before and
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: after the minimum unit price came in.
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  Speaker 1: What did that research tell you? How many people took
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: part and what did.
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  Speaker 2: It tell you?
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  Speaker 3: So I just saver seven hundred and seventy people were
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: included in the study. What we found was that for
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: moderate drinkers that's people who have no more than ten
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: drinks a week, we found that they increased they're spending
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: by only three dollars a year. So these were people
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: who were not targeted by the policy. They barely had
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: any financial impact as a results of the policy.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And so with that research, did you also look at
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: those that were targeted by the policy or was it.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: More just a matter of looking at those moderate drinkers.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: The survey did pick ups a fair few heavy drinkers
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  Speaker 3: as well, but our estimates for them were not as reliable,
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  Speaker 3: so the focus of the research was much more on
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: these moderate drinkers, who were the unintended targets of the policy.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I know that anecdotally, and I know, doctor Taylor, there's
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: going to be people listening this morning who are going,
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  Speaker 1: oh goodness, me, Katie. I'm not sure that I believe
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  Speaker 1: this because I guess anecdotally there are concerns around the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory that people sort of gone from drinking cask
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: wines to heavy drinks like rum and other spirits. But
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: did the research look into that, Well, did it look
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: into that?
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Not this particular study, but we have had other studies
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: that have looked at alcohol, how alcohol is being consumed
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: across the territory. There is a rise in spirits consumption
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory, but that started before the minimum
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: unit price came in. Further than that, alcohol substitution tends
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: to work where if the price of cask wine increased,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: heavy drinkers would move to the next cheapest drink, which
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: in this case would be beer and not spirits, which
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: are much more expensive than cask wine.
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  Speaker 1: I know we've had a lot of you know, we
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: have had a lot of alcohol related issues in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory of late but also historically, particularly in places
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: like Alice Springs. How does the floor price sort of
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: help with some of those really serious concerns around crime
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: or even hospital admission or again, was that something that
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: was looked at?
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: So this is something that we've looked at in our
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: other research and basically all related problems are more likely
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: with heavier alcohol consumption. So what the minimum unit price
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: does is it reduces the amounts that heavy the amount
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: of alcohol JM sorry consumed during a heavy consumption session,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: and therefore reduces the likelihood of all of these times.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: And we have seen reductions in emergency department attendances as
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: well as police as well as alcohol related assaults.
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  Speaker 2: Now can you tell us as well?
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  Speaker 1: I know that there has been some discussion about this, well,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the floor price now being implemented across the nation. Based
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: on the research that you have done, why should that happen?
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think other jurisdictions that have issues with
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: heavy alcohol consumers should consider the minimum unit price. It's
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: shown to reduce harm, it doesn't have any cost to
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  Speaker 3: the government. We've shown that it doesn't have any cost
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: to be moderate drinkers who shouldn't be affected by the policy,
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  Speaker 3: and it's just an option that should be considered without
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: this without this claim from the alcohol industry that it
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: will harm everybody well.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Public Health Association of Australia, Doctor Nick Taylor, I really
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning and appreciate you having a
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: chat to us about the research excellent.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you