Australian of the Year Rosie Batty has described a report which shows one million Aussie kids are impacted by the drinking of others as crushing and frightening.
Alcohol is involved in up to half of all child protection and reported domestic violence cases, according to the landmark report titled The Hidden Harm.
"The statistics are very frightening," Ms Batty said at the report's launch on Tuesday.
"What I feel is a real shame is that as adults we've normalised (alcohol) so much we don't consider how it changes us towards our children and how they witness those behavioural changes.
"Alcohol doesn't cause violence, but it clearly is a contributor and it fuels a lot of behaviour that otherwise may not be exacerbated."
More than 10,000 children are in the child protection system because of a parent or carer's drinking, the report by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and Centre for Alcohol Policy Research found.
FARE chief Michael Thorn wants the government to make alcohol more expensive, reduce the opening hours of bars and liquor stores and curb the availability of alcohol.
"Price is the most important consideration when it comes to the amount of alcohol that is consumed," Mr Thorn said.
"We also know that the availability of alcohol is really important.
"What we are arguing for is the cheapest booze to be removed from the market, by increasing the price on those products.
"We are also looking for state governments to introduce restrictions on the availability of alcohol by introducing earlier closing times and reducing the number of outlets."
"What we are arguing for is the cheapest booze to be removed from the market."
The report also shows there are nearly 30,000 police-reported incidents of alcohol-related domestic violence each year, and that's only in the four states where data is available - NSW, Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
"If the same degree of violence happened on our streets we wouldn't be in the position we're in with family violence," said Ms Batty.
"But because its behind closed doors and because it's been a subject no one really has had the opportunity to discuss openly, we really are just starting to understand it."
The research also looked at the effect of a family member's drinking on children over several years.
One third of the kids who suffered in 2008 were still suffering in 2011.
It found children are verbally abused, left unsupervised, physically hurt or exposed to domestic violence because of the drinking of a family member.
