Transcript: Dr Steve Hambleton, Doorstop Parliament House

STEVE HAMBLETON: Thank you, everyone, for coming here today. The AMA and the National Alliance for Action on Alcohol, which has 70 member organisations, have had a summit today to actually look at advertising of alcoholic products to our children.

Now, the AMA has also launched Alcohol Marketing and Young People, a document which is on our website, which actually goes through in detail and talks about the sorts of alcohol advertising that is occurring right now today.

Now, many of those sorts of advertising, we don't even think about. This is not TV, this is not radio, this is not billboards outside schools, which we have some concerns about. It's using the new advertising techniques, social marketing, social media, it's product placement, it's actually sponsorship of public events, it's actually using Facebook, it's using Twitter. It's using those networks that our children use every day to actually put their brand out there, to groom the next generation of our young people to actually encourage them to use alcohol.

And many of our young people are being harmed by alcohol. It's very important. We gathered lots of experts together today to talk about that. We certainly have a communiqué that we're going to put out after that meeting. We're calling for some action. We're calling for action from government to actually analyse the extent to which our children are exposed to marketing.

We want to focus on those marketing techniques, focus on the alcohol industry's sponsorship of sport and cultural events. We want to look at the annual expenditure of alcohol companies, so we can get some idea of what they're spending it on, where they're spending it on.

We know that this, inverted commas, robust system of industry self-regulation simply does not work. So, we need to replace that with government regulation.

Now, I've got some very high profile and very well-informed colleagues with me today, that I - that I'd like to introduce to you. Julia Stafford is with me, from the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth, Caterina Giorgi, Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education and Vince Kelly, the president of the Police Federation of Australia.

So happy to take questions, and some of those questions may well be directed to the experts who are with me.

QUESTION: Steve, what actual evidence do you have linking alcohol-related violence to alcohol marketing?

STEVE HAMBLETON: Well look, the evidence that the marketing of alcohol influences both the age that people start drinking and the volume that they drink is very, very strong. And, you know, that's, I guess, what leads to concerns that we have with violence and with levels of consumption of alcohol.

 But we've got some - a researcher here who would - who could answer the same question.

CATERINA GIORGI: Sure. So alcohol advertising also influences the way that people drink, so it influences that culture where people drink to get drunk. And we know that when people get intoxicated and when they drink more, they're more likely to get involved in things like alcohol-related violence.

 So, alcohol advertising is about the way that people drink, the amount that they drink and when they start drinking, and that's why we need to look at regulating it better.

QUESTION: Now, the legal drinking age is 18. How many 14 years olds are drinking?

STEVE HAMBLETON: Well look, I'll get the - my police colleague to actually talk to you, as well. But the fact is 90 per cent of our 14 year olds have exposure to alcohol already - 90 per cent. For parents listening, concerned about this, that is a real statistic.

The other problem that we see is that five people lose their life on a weekly basis because of alcohol. Two hundred more people end up in hospital every week in Australia. This is a real problem and it's affecting our youth.

I might get a comment from our police colleague, Vince Kelly.

QUESTION: Vince, what's being done to police the legal alcohol age of 18?

VINCE KELLY: Well, I think all state police forces and territory police forces are obviously involved in enforcement across a wide range of areas.

It was quite clear to me today, as a non-expert in advertising and marketing, that advertising does affect people's drinking choices, it does affect young people and young people do make choices on what they see on the TV, what they see on social media and what they see on the sporting field.

So, from a policing perspective, anything that can be done that delays people taking up drinking or, in fact, introduces a culture of drinking in moderation and drinking responsibly should be supported. And it's for those reasons that the Police Federation of Australia is very supportive of the National Alcohol Action Alliance, and other independent groups who want to deal with the problem of excessive alcohol consumption in the Australian community.

And I also support the view that self-regulation simply doesn't work. I mean, there's evidence in all sorts of other industries that self-regulation simply doesn't work. And I'm surprised that an industry like the alcohol industry, and when it comes to marketing, that we're shy of self-regulation.

QUESTION: Vince, can I just ask, why does it come down to actual industry regulation as opposed to, you know, individuals just taking responsibility for their actions?

VINCE KELLY: Well, I - again, I think I have to defer to the experts today on that. And certainly, as a police officer, as a serving police officer, I understand that people are responsible for the choices they make in life, but I'm also aware that younger people are influenced by things they see going on around them. And it is quite clear that - to me, that advertising and marketing is structured in such a way to influence the choices that people make.

So, yeah, there is an element of responsibility. And I think all parents and responsible adults have a role in providing a model for people in how they approach their use of alcohol, but there are a number of other factors at work. And I think if you look across a broad range of other things outside of alcohol, it's a number of measures working together.

And I come from the Northern Territory, where alcohol and alcohol abuse is the number one social problem, the number one community and family problem. So I think anything, any small step that can be taken, to reduce the impact and harm that alcohol has on the broader community should be supported.

QUESTION: What specifically are the danger.

STEVE HAMBLETON: Well look, I think it's time to look at our learnings from the cigarette - the tobacco debate and apply some of those to alcohol. The first one is, there won't be any sport if there's no tobacco advertising.

Well, that was wrong. We certainly had a national cricket competition that was actually sponsored by a milk company. And we - there are other opportunities for advertising. It is not the case that sporting events won't take place if alcohol is not one of the sponsors.

QUESTION: At the end of the day what's your message to parents out of all of this?

STEVE HAMBLETON: Well, I think the first message to parents is have a look at the subliminal advertising that your children are exposed to that you probably didn't even realise. Understand that that brand awareness translates into their decision to when they drink and how much they drink.

There is a real opportunity for harm there. We need to help you make a difference for your children so they can get a better chance.  Now, we know that the human brain does not stop developing - it's not 18, it's not 21, it's actually 25. So, if we start digging out the evidence when people should be exposed to alcohol, it's actually 25 years of age not 18.