In October 2025, the Australian Government launched an inquiry into the relationship between domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) and suicide. The Terms of Reference were broad, covering at-risk groups, prevalence, reporting, prevention, legal, health, mental health and other services. However, there was no mention of investigating the role that alcohol plays in DFSV and suicide.
Alcohol contributes to increasing the risk of both DFSV and mental ill-health, including suicide. Reducing the severity of these public health issues, requires evidence-based policies that address alcohol availability and marketing, and that support people at higher risk of alcohol harms. These policy approaches are well established in public health literature.
However, the implementation of these policy measures by Governments in Australia has been limited. There has been insufficient action on reducing alcohol availability (particularly direct delivery into the home, which amplifies DFSV and suicide risks) and on liquor licensing regimes that fail to fully consider risks of harm. There is also lenient regulation of alcohol marketing and advertising.
Summary of recommendations
- Acknowledge, examine, and make recommendations about the role that alcohol plays in DFSV and suicide, referring to the evidence-based policies to reduce these harms.
- Complete the National Cabinet commitment by ensuring that all States and Territories enact changes to alcohol laws in line with the Rapid Review to prevent DFSV. This includes adopting primary objectives to prevent gendered violence, limiting alcohol sales and delivery timeframes (2-hour safety pause and 10pm cutoff), and restricting advertising.
- Increase funding investment in mental health and AOD treatment services.
- Invest in integrated models of care (eg. common risk assessment frameworks), and cross-sector professional development to build shared expertise and improve support for people with intersecting AOD, mental health, and family violence needs, (eg. a shared understanding of alcohol and violence against women and children).
- Improve and standardise data collection on the role of alcohol in DFSV across police, emergency, and child protection systems and invest in qualitative research to inform more effective prevention and intervention strategies.