Communities key to tackling alcohol: govt

22 Nov 2012, 2:46 pm   -   Source: AAP
A new study shows co-ordinated community action reduces alcohol consumption in rural NSW. (AAP)

A new study shows co-ordinated community action reduces alcohol consumption in rural NSW. (AAP)

A community-based project cut drunkenness and related problems in rural communities by up to one-third, a NSW project has found.

A project that cut grog-fuelled violence in country NSW could hold the key to tackling the problem in Sydney's Kings Cross, the state government says.

The Alcohol Action in Rural Communities project reported a 33 per cent reduction in alcohol-related street offences in 10 test communities across NSW.

The measures used in the five-year study included interactive sessions at high schools on alcohol risks, GPs prescribing anti-alcohol medication and local police targeting high-risk weekends.

Launching the findings in Sydney on Thursday, NSW Healthy Lifestyles Minister Kevin Humphries said the collaboration between agencies that promoted the rural program would also be employed to reduce public drunkenness in Sydney's nightclub district.

"The Kings Cross plan of management ... includes a range of different measures across police, liquor licences, local council, transport and business to address (alcohol-related violence)," Mr Humphries said.

"It's these kinds of solutions that involve different groups working together that are crucial to turning this around."

The rural study also reported a 30 per cent reduction in the number of residents drinking at levels that placed them at high risk of alcohol-related violence, accidents and injuries, and a 20 per cent reduction in average alcohol consumption.

Mr Humphries said the findings offered a good opportunity to "develop responses which have been proven to work in our communities".

The report's author, Anthony Shakeshaft, from the University of NSW's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said the interventions had been inexpensive, costing $61,000 per community, and they had returned a cost benefit.

"Our research estimates that for every $1 spent on interventions the community gets about $1.50 back," Associate Professor Shakeshaft said.

The rural communities that took part in the project included Corowa, Forbes, Grafton, Griffith, Inverell, Kempsey, Leeton, Parkes and Tumut.

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