Joshua is a Warlpiri/Tiwi man from the Bagot community in Darwin, Northern Territory. Alcohol caused a lot of problems in his life — trouble with the police, hospitalisations, and mental ill health. But today, after giving up drinking, he is proud to set a good example for his son and his community.
When Lauren Pettis (35) and her husband, Phil, began trying for a baby at the end of 2020, the couple made the conscious decision to go alcohol-free for their pregnancy journey.
For more than two decades, alcohol companies have largely set their own advertising rules through the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) Scheme. Unsurprisingly, these rules are weak and littered with loopholes. Because they are voluntary, they are consequence-free when breaches occur.
Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing. No parent expects their child’s life to be cut short by alcohol. My son Dylan was just 26 when he died from alcohol-induced hepatitis, or liver inflammation.
I’m Rodney and I work in policy and research at FARE. I’m someone with a personal experience of alcohol dependency. I don’t fit some of the stereotypes of alcohol dependency – I didn’t experience significant trauma and didn’t use alcohol until my mid-20s. But I did end up using it excessively and compulsively for many years.
With online connection more important in our everyday lives than ever, it’s essential we ensure a safe and healthy digital environment for everyone.
Sharing information about alcohol-free pregnancies and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can help every baby to be strong born. Strong Born is the latest part of the broader Every Moment Matters initiative and shares new resources created with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in rural and remote communities.
Stigma and discrimination are a common experience for people with mental health or alcohol and other drug (AOD) issues, and people with disability, including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). This can occur within social, healthcare, welfare, support services, criminal justice and employment settings.
Pauline was never a big drinker. But to deal with the challenges presented by COVID-19, she started relying on a glass of wine or two every night.
Decision makers are rightfully probing the role of digital platforms like Meta, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat in Australians’ lives, with multiple inquiries considering the regulations that should apply to multi-national social media companies.
We rightfully celebrate when people set or achieve a sobriety goal or milestone, because making a change when it comes to alcohol – against a backdrop of incessant alcohol company marketing and excessive availability – is so difficult. But what do we need to do to make this change easier for people?
Recently released Australian Bureau of Statistics released data showed that more people are dying because of alcohol, with increases two years in a row bringing alcohol-induced deaths to their highest rate in a decade. If you didn’t hear about this, it’s not surprising, because these findings did not spark a national discussion or result in governments leaping to action to understand and reverse these trends.
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