Addressing alcohol’s harm to others is essential for community wellbeing.
Alcohol related harm affects families, workplaces and communities, yet current systems for prevention, regulation and data collection are not keeping pace with the scale of the issue.
Two critical areas of harm are family violence, and sexual violence. Australia is at a crisis point, and evidence consistently shows that alcohol increases the frequency and severity of violence.
The report Alcohol’s Harm to Others in Australia: Patterns, Costs, Disparities and Precipitants, is the most comprehensive analysis to date of harm beyond the person using alcohol.
Key findings
- Almost half of Australians are negatively affected by others’ alcohol use.
- Alcohol is involved in up to 47% of police-reported family violence incidents, underscoring calls for urgent reform. Â
- One in six children (17%) are affected by someone else’s alcohol use. Alcohol is an identified factor in up to 5% of child protection intake assessments and 13% of cases progressing to court.
- More than half of women who reported physical or sexual assault between 2011 and 2021, said alcohol was a contributing factor in the most recent incident.
Policy priorities
To reduce alcohol’s harms to others, beginning with family and sexual violence, national and state leadership is needed to:
- Embed alcohol considerations in family and sexual violence policy and practice
- Reform regulation to reduce harm
- Mandate national data collection and evaluation
- Invest in prevention and awareness
Alcohol’s harm to others, including interpersonal, family and sexual violence demands urgent national attention. A coordinated response addressing alcohol-related harm in homes and communities is both achievable and overdue.
