IMAGINE the scene: one minute, you’re inside a private house enjoying a small party with close friends; the next, you’re being dragged over the fence and rammed head-first into a concrete pole.
Your only crime was to ask a group of drunken gate-crashers to leave the premises and - after they initially refused then pulled a fuse out of the power box on their way out, plunging the house into darkness - you stood in the front doorway blocking them from re-entering.
This happened to a good friend of mine almost 20 years ago in a usually quiet suburban street.
The incident killed the party, and left my friend battered and bruised, concussed and confused, but thankfully with no long-term physical injuries.
Others have not fared so well.
In 2003, seven teenagers were stabbed in a brawl at a party in Epping, in Melbourne’s north; in 2006, 17-year-old Ryan Ellis died after being punched in the head at a party in Stawell; in July this year, Todd Parnell, 22, died after a fight erupted at a friend’s party on Bribie Island, Queensland.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Whenever I hear news reports of private parties marred by drunken violence, I think back to that night nearly two decades ago and how it could so easily have had a very different ending.
While the culprits were the louts who heard music coming from the house as they walked home from a nearby pub, found the door unlocked and decided to just waltz on in, I believe alcohol itself and our boozy culture were also to blame.
As a society, we ALL have an alcohol problem - not just those who drink to excess.
Our governments know it, our police officers know it, our media outlets know it, and so does anyone who has ever been attacked, abused, accosted or simply offended by the drunken antics of others. And some evidence suggests that the younger they start, the more likely they are to have a problem later.
This week alone, there have been several projects and proposals in the headlines aimed at curbing excessive alcohol consumption among our youth.
On Wednesday, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon helped launch a Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix campaign, put together by DrinkWise Australia and the alcohol industry. It warns of the dangers of alcohol to the growing adolescent brain and encourages parents of nine to 14-year-olds to think twice before allowing their youngsters to have a drink (www.drinkwise.com.au). Yesterday, mental health ex
pert Professor Ian Hickie urged the Prime Minister to raise the legal drinking age to 19 (maybe eventually 21, as in parts of the US) to break the link between leaving school and binge drinking. With schoolies celebrations about to begin, the suggestion was backed by the Australian National Council on Drugs. Cruise ship operator Carni
val Australia, which operates P&O and Princess, tried to ban guests under 21 from its vessels between November 1 and January 30 unless accompanied by a guardian or parent. They argued cruising schoolies caused a big rise in alcohol-related incidents, but the bid was rejected by the Human Rights Commission on age discrimination grounds. The Australian Drug Foundation called for new laws fining adults $6000 if children drink alcohol at their homes without parental permission.
That last one really got to me.
In Victoria, your 14-year-old can go to a friend’s house and be served alcohol by the other kid’s mum or dad, and there’s very little that you can do about it.
Apart from banning them from ever setting foot in the friend’s house again, that is.
Several other states have outlawed the so-called secondary supply of alcohol to minors without explicit consent from the child’s parents, and the ADF wants a nation-wide approach. So do Victorians Helen Torvy and Bruce Clark, who have campaigned to highlight the teen drinking culture problem and the anomaly in the secondary supply law.
Torvy has set up a website on the issue at www.keepemsafe.com.au
Clark’s 15-year-old son, Leigh, died in 1999 after drinking vodka essence bought for him and a friend by the other boy’s mother.
The woman was eventually fined $200 for buying the alcohol for the boys, but no one could be held accountable for his death under existing laws. There are countless organisations out there trying to reduce the harm caused to the community by alcohol.
As well as those already mentioned, they include the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia, the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and the National Alcohol and Drug Research Centre.
But despite their efforts and warnings, it seems the message is falling on deaf ears.
What hope have we got when so many people still think it’s OK to go to a football match and drink so much grog that they can’t walk out of the stadium after the final siren?
Or when intoxicated revellers who throw up all over themselves and others after a big night out on the town are given hero status by their mates for their efforts?
Or when a toddler grabs dad’s stubby of beer at a barbecue and starts sucking on the end of it, and all the fellas joke about “starting ‘em early”?
Would they be laughing if the tot was swigging on a bottle of some other poison? I’m not a big consumer of alcohol, and my kids are not yet at the age where it is a big issue.
But the day will likely come when they’ll want a party to mark their 16th or 18th birthdays, when alcohol will probably get put on the agenda, and the prospect leaves me cold.
Supervising drunk teenagers and trying to keep out intoxicated gatecrashers is definitely not my idea of a celebration.
You might think I’m a wowser, but I’ve seen first-hand how alcohol can well and truly spoil the party.
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