Action urged on alcohol violence: [7 NSW First Edition]
Dan Box, John Stapleton. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 Sep 2006: 6.
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Abstract
Tony Grabs, director of trauma services at Sydney’s StVincent’s Hospital, joined a chorus of calls for action on alcohol-related crime after an attack on an Irish backpacker outside a hotel at Bondi, in the city’s east, last Friday.
Anthony Shakeshaft, a senior research fellow with the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said limiting the amount of alcohol that could be served in one session would help stop naive youngsters turning into problem drinkers.
Full Text
YOUNG professionals in Australia on working holidays “going out on a Friday night and getting themselves destroyed” are behind a growing trend in alcohol-related violence in Sydney.
Tony Grabs, director of trauma services at Sydney’s StVincent’s Hospital, joined a chorus of calls for action on alcohol-related crime after an attack on an Irish backpacker outside a hotel at Bondi, in the city’s east, last Friday.
Police and the 23-year-old’s family are expected to make a public appeal today for witnesses of the attack to come forward. Thevictim was in intensive care yesterday with severe head injuries.
State Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said the attack was the result of a “culture of violence” among young men, which had been allowed to develop by a criminal justice system that failed to punish the offenders adequately.
“Alcohol is a major problem in NSW, with a culture of violence among a lot of young men,” Mr Debnam said.
Dr Grab said many of the visiting workers — often young, single men in well-paid positions in accountancy and IT — were recent arrivals in the city and treated their time here as if they were on holiday.
“They are people who in their normal life are not violent but the alcohol changes them,” he said. “Of the trauma patients that come through our doors on a Friday or Saturday night, about 80per cent are under the influence of alcohol.”
Anthony Shakeshaft, a senior research fellow with the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said limiting the amount of alcohol that could be served in one session would help stop naive youngsters turning into problem drinkers.
And the laws governing the serving of alcohol should be enforced, he said.