Police across Australia and New Zealand are planning their seventh coordinated blitz on drunken violence in the lead-up to Christmas.
Operation Unite, starting this Friday and ending on Sunday, will involve random breath testing, extra police patrols and overt and covert licensing operations.
Jon White, the CEO of ANZPAA, the agency that serves police commissioners across Australia and New Zealand, said police were concerned that the public considered excessive drinking just part of daily life.
"Our culture is one where some people are drinking alcohol purely to get drunk," he said in a statement on Monday.
"Cheap and readily-available alcohol with many points of access are intensifying the issue.
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"The harms of alcohol misuse are seen in a large proportion of cases police deal with including street violence, domestic violence and road trauma," Mr White said.
