These are the 140,000 children who witness the effect that alcohol is having in their homes. And then there are the victims of images of assaults, violence and abuse. Nationally that represents thousands of alcohol fuelled assaults behind closed doors. The figure quoted for WA is about 50 per cent. Mrs Batty cites framework figures that between 23 and 65 per cent of reported domestic violence in Australia is alcohol related. She pleads for the public, the media and Government to acknowledge the problem and ‘for those in power’ to implement solutions. In her press conference supporting the framework, she was at pains to point out that one million of our children are affected by someone else’s drinking, 140,000 are substantially affected and 10,000 are in some form of child protection because of alcohol abuse by a caregiver.
Mrs Batty continues to demonstrate extraordinary leadership and she holds a mirror up to our community. Rosie Batty, the Australian of the Year, who suffered unimaginable grief after her son was killed by his father, has put her weight behind the National Framework for Action to Prevent Alcohol-Related Family Violence. Two explosive reports in the past two weeks urge the community and governments to take definitive and decisive action on escalating levels of alcohol abuse and its attendant problems. But there is no need to rely just on my interpretation of the problem. If the industry thinks I have forgotten this while addressing the meth problem, they had better think again. The meth debate has probably provided welcome relief for the alcohol industry which has long wanted a distraction from the fact that the cost of alcohol abuse to our community eclipses the cost of methamphetamine abuse. Public debate about the impact of methamphetamine use on our communities has, rightly, created much concern and interest.
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