Public Health Association of Australia’s Dr Nic Taylor is calling for the alcohol floor price to be rolled out nationwide

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A new research has been published on the effects of
minimum alcohol pricing, with the authors saying that the work
debunks the industry argument that the measure penalizes all drinkers.
The Public Health Association of Australia says the analysis, which
has been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal
of Public Health, demonstrates why the measure currently in place

(00:21):
here in the Northern Territory is fair and should be
operated in other jurisdictions. Now, joining me on the line
to tell us a little bit more about this research
and what exactly it found is the Public Health Association
of Australia's doctor Nick Taylor.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Good morning to you, doctor Taylor.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Oh, good morning Katie.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
How are you yeah, really good, Thanks so much for
your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now, firstly, what was the aim of this research.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yes, so basically, the alcohol industry claimed that all drinkers
would be harmed by the minimum alcohol price, not just
the heavy drinkers that were targeted by the policy. So
we set out to test that by examining the financial
impact the policy would have had on moderate drinkers.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So obviously, I'm assuming spoke to a number of different
people and quite a few people would have taken part
in that survey.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Can you talk us through how it worked?

Speaker 3 (01:16):
So it was a fifteen minute phone survey and we
basically asked people about their what their favorite beverage was,
and their drinking practices, so how often they drank and
when they drank, how much they were drinking. We then
used that information and looked at the brands that they

(01:37):
mentioned and saw how much those prices were before and
after the minimum unit price came in.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
What did that research tell you? How many people took
part and what did.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
It tell you?

Speaker 3 (01:51):
So I just saver seven hundred and seventy people were
included in the study. What we found was that for
moderate drinkers that's people who have no more than ten
drinks a week, we found that they increased they're spending
by only three dollars a year. So these were people

(02:12):
who were not targeted by the policy. They barely had
any financial impact as a results of the policy.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
And so with that research, did you also look at
those that were targeted by the policy or was it.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
More just a matter of looking at those moderate drinkers.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
The survey did pick ups a fair few heavy drinkers
as well, but our estimates for them were not as reliable,
so the focus of the research was much more on
these moderate drinkers, who were the unintended targets of the policy.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
I know that anecdotally, and I know, doctor Taylor, there's
going to be people listening this morning who are going,
oh goodness, me, Katie. I'm not sure that I believe
this because I guess anecdotally there are concerns around the
Northern Territory that people sort of gone from drinking cask
wines to heavy drinks like rum and other spirits. But

(03:07):
did the research look into that, Well, did it look
into that?

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Not this particular study, but we have had other studies
that have looked at alcohol, how alcohol is being consumed
across the territory. There is a rise in spirits consumption
in the Northern Territory, but that started before the minimum
unit price came in. Further than that, alcohol substitution tends

(03:36):
to work where if the price of cask wine increased,
heavy drinkers would move to the next cheapest drink, which
in this case would be beer and not spirits, which
are much more expensive than cask wine.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
I know we've had a lot of you know, we
have had a lot of alcohol related issues in the
Northern Territory of late but also historically, particularly in places
like Alice Springs. How does the floor price sort of
help with some of those really serious concerns around crime
or even hospital admission or again, was that something that
was looked at?

Speaker 3 (04:09):
So this is something that we've looked at in our
other research and basically all related problems are more likely
with heavier alcohol consumption. So what the minimum unit price
does is it reduces the amounts that heavy the amount
of alcohol JM sorry consumed during a heavy consumption session,

(04:32):
and therefore reduces the likelihood of all of these times.
And we have seen reductions in emergency department attendances as
well as police as well as alcohol related assaults.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Now can you tell us as well?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
I know that there has been some discussion about this, well,
the floor price now being implemented across the nation. Based
on the research that you have done, why should that happen?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, So I think other jurisdictions that have issues with
heavy alcohol consumers should consider the minimum unit price. It's
shown to reduce harm, it doesn't have any cost to
the government. We've shown that it doesn't have any cost
to be moderate drinkers who shouldn't be affected by the policy,

(05:16):
and it's just an option that should be considered without
this without this claim from the alcohol industry that it
will harm everybody well.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Public Health Association of Australia, Doctor Nick Taylor, I really
appreciate your time this morning and appreciate you having a
chat to us about the research excellent.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Thank you