Pre-drinks study sparks call for bottle shop levy

There are calls for bottle shop prices to be increased after a study found young people are fuelling up on alcohol before heading out so they can save money.

A tenth of people surveyed in the Deakin University study said they drank more than 11 standard drinks before reaching a venue, and some said they had as many as 25.

The study found that people who drank more than six drinks before leaving home had double the chance of being involved in a violent incident once they were out.

Lead author Peter Miller says many people told the researchers that they drank heavily before heading out in order to avoid high prices at pubs and clubs.

He says one possible solution is to make the practice less affordable by charging bottle shops a levy and increasing their prices.

"Currently all the very cheap liquor being sold from the very large packaged liquor outlets contributes to harm," he said.

"But it doesn't actually contribute to any of the measures that ameliorate that harm, such as the security, police out at night, people in emergency departments.

"And on the other side, when you raise the price of alcohol, you reduce consumption, particularly amongst people who are dependent and young people who have limited budgets."

The chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, Detective Inspector Tony Cooke, says the fund has commissioned more research into the impact of bottle shop sales.

"What is very concerning is the preloading - the drinking of alcohol before they get there," he said.

Paying their fair share

Associate Professor Miller says a floor price would not achieve what a tax or levy on packaged liquor outlets could achieve.

"I think it's very much about packaged liquor outlets paying up their fair share of the costs that they incur on society," he said.

"I think it's really important for people in the community to think about when they're paying for alcohol, that's not the only time they actually pay for alcohol.

"We pay for alcohol through our taxes, every time we have to wait for the police to turn up on a Saturday night or have to wait in an emergency department on a Saturday or Friday night.

"So we need the packaged liquor outlets to start contributing to the costs of the liquor they sell."

The data was collected as part of Australia's largest study into alcohol-related night-time crime, which compared approaches to licensing in Newcastle and Geelong.

Newcastle pubs are required to limit trading hours, cannot sell shots after 10pm and must limit the number of drinks being served at one time.

In Geelong the measures are voluntary, and include ID scanners, improved communication between venues and police, and an education campaign.

Associate Professor Miller says it is clear which one works better.

"You always get rogue traders and the bottom line always competes with responsible service of alcohol," he said.

"We did over 130 venue observations in the 18-month period, and in the end the mandatory conditions worked and the voluntary ones just didn't."

Source: ABC News, 11 December 2012