A bleak new poll by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) shows how damaging Australia’s alcohol culture is for children.
FARE chief executive Michael Thorn said that one in five Australian children, or about a million each year, are harmed as a result of someone else’s drinking.
“Governments have deliberately turned a deaf ear to this aspect of the family violence crisis we have in the nation,” Thorn said.
“It’s not just about the women, our research shows about a million kids each year are harmed by their carers drinking, and children are just completely overlooked in the debate about family violence.”
Worryingly, the annual poll of 2017 found a whopping one in three Australians have been affected by alcohol-related violence.
“It’s a damning indictment of this country’s toxic relationship with alcohol,” Thorn added.
“These troubling findings are really a reflection of the extent of alcohol harm in Australia; the 15 lives lost and 430 hospitalisations caused by alcohol every single day.”
Also worrying was how many Australians are concerned about excess drinking – 78%, proving most of us can recognise the country has a problem and something has to be done.
