The question was raised in response to a $1.3 million Alcohol Culture Change Grants Initiative for Local Councils announced by VicHealth last week.

The City of Greater Bendigo will consider applying, acting Active and Healthy Communities manager Lincoln Fitzgerald said.

Victorian Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley welcomed the grants, which will support councils to develop and deliver projects targeting “risky drinking” in their areas. 

“Our alcohol culture has become detrimental for too many Victorians,” he said.

A VicHealth survey, conducted last month, found young Victorians felt peer pressure to drink and the majority of adults disapproved of drinking to get drunk. 

“Victorians are telling us they don’t want a society that says that’s acceptable behaviour,” chief executive officer Jerril Rechter said. 

More than 2000 Victorian adults and 1800 young people aged 18 to 24 years responded to the survey.

Do their attitudes correspond with the behaviour being exhibited throughout the state? 

According to VicHealth, overall levels of alcohol consumption in Victoria are relatively stable.

But its new Alcohol Strategy states “alcohol-related harms including hospitalisations and ambulance attendances have increased significantly in recent years.”

“Most Victorians drink responsibly, however a significant proportion of the population still drink in a manner that puts them at risk of injury from a single occasion of drinking, or at risk of chronic disease over the longer term,” it goes on to say.

Bendigo Health drug and alcohol care coordinator Daniel Eltringham said alcohol-related presentations were an everyday occurrence in the Bendigo Hospital Emergency Department.

He said alcohol could be the primary cause or contributor to a patient’s state, or revealed as a secondary issue during medical assessment. 

“Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to two broad categories of hospital emergency presentations that create challenging management issues for emergency department staff,” he said. 

“Category one presentations are those related to acute intoxication, toxicity or impairment caused by alcohol.”

Drink driving, accidental and intentional self harm, falls, violence, and psychosocial crisis and exacerbation of mental health conditions fall into that category.

Category two presentations are related to acute symptoms and emergency cases occurring as a result of long term alcohol use and dependency, such as organ damage and failure and alcohol withdrawal.

Mr Eltringham’s position was established three years ago as part of a statewide drive to improve responses to drug and alcohol presentations to hospital emergency departments. 

“Heavy alcohol intoxicated patients can be quite challenging cases,” he said.  

“With intoxication can come violence and aggression directed at healthcare staff, making it very challenging and potentially dangerous for staff to provide care to this group of patients.

“Alcohol intoxication can also significantly impair patients’ judgement and decision making capacity meaning that if not properly managed patients can place themselves and others at significant risk of harm.”

Mr Fitzgerald said council’s primary objective was to support and implement initiatives that maintain an appropriate responsible drinking culture and minimise alcohol related challenges within the community.

He said council already did this by regulating the availability of alcohol, delivering health promotion initiatives; and working in partnership with the Bendigo Safe Community Forum and its stakeholders.

“The city is also involved with the Communities that Care project, along with other community groups, which aims to reduce harm to young people in a number of areas,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

He said alcohol, enjoyed in moderation, could be part of a healthy lifestyle.

“Excessive consumption of alcohol – whether through ‘binge drinking’ or excessive consumption over prolonged periods – greatly increases people’s risk of being a victim of or a perpetrator of violence, being involved in a traffic accident, or being affected by chronic illnesses or premature death,” he said.

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Lost nights. Blackouts. Craving a drink to get the kids off to school, or to go out and do the shopping… to face the day. 

Josie* never knew what an alcoholic was until she attended her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, aged 23.

“For the first time, I actually felt like I belonged somewhere… there are other people that think like I do,” she said. 

Josie had been drinking for 10 years before she became part of AA. 

She had agreed to it while drunk.

“My God, it made a huge difference – you wouldn’t know me if you met be back then,” she said.

Josie is now married, with four children, a university degree and a job. 

When she started attending AA, she was a young woman who “couldn’t cope” with her lot in life.

Pregnancy had curtailed her schooling, and she drank to escape the “million miles a minute” stream of negativity that consumed her mind. 

“I wanted my head to shut up, and that’s what alcohol did, so I drank it,” Josie said.

“Nearing the end, I was drinking nearly every day with two little kids.

“My five-year-old was a kicker – he said to me, ‘Mummy, not another bottle of jacks.’”

The more she drank, the more guilty she felt, but Josie was afraid to stop.

“I thought the alcohol was holding me together,” she said. 

“I didn’t realise how bad it was until I put it down and could actually see what I’d done.”

It was the people sharing their experiences at AA meetings who helped her identify and address her issues. 

Josie said AA had saved her life, and many others, but getting sober wasn’t easy. 

“I’ve been to so many funerals of people who have died by suicide,” she said. 

“It’s a dreadful disease – you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy if you had one.”

Twice a week, every week, you’ll find Josie at AA meetings in Bendigo, despite having been sober for almost 20 years.

“I’ve got to be ever vigilant that I remember where I was and what life is like now,” she said. 

After she first got sober, she was reluctant to join in social events.

“I was concerned I would pick up a drink… now it doesn’t bother me,” Josie said. 

The Bendigo district is home to more than 10 meetings, on every day of the week.

Locations include Castlemaine, Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo, Inglewood, Kyneton, Quarry Hill and Eaglehawk.

When she first started attending meetings, Josie said there was “a lot of grey hair.”

“A lot more people are coming in their 30s, or younger,” she said.

*Name has been changed.

For more information about Alcoholics Anonymous or to find your nearest meeting, call 1300 222 222.

The scourge of the drug ice has received attention from all levels of government.

But Bendigo Community Health Services alcohol and other drugs senior manager Cheryl Sobczyk said alcohol was still the primary drug of concern for those working in her field.

“It still affects the greatest number of people,” she said. 

She said more than 600 people a year seek help from Bendigo Community Health Services for alcohol-related issues.

Options include counselling, an adult residential withdrawal program at Nova House, and a range of non-residential withdrawal programs. 

Mrs Sobczyk said Australia’s drinking culture was one of many factors contributing to alcoholism.

“Alcohol is tied in with almost every social occasion you could imagine,” she said. Accessibility is also an issue. 

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There are 393 active liquor licences in the City of Greater Bendigo, according to Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation data from August 1. 

Bendigo Senior Sergeant John Dalton said police encountered fewer drunk and disorderly people in the city at weekends than they had in years prior. 

“We arrest about three to five people a weekend,” he said. 

He said an accord with late night venue licencees and the 2am lockout had helped in that respect, but alcohol was to be a factor in a significant portion of police matters.

For more about BCHS programs, call 03 5448 1600.

About two thousand people will devote their Saturday to tasting craft beers during Bendigo on the Hop.

That word – taste – is important to Bendigo Beer co-founder and chair Trevor Birks. 

Alcohol, to him, should be part of a broader culinary culture.

He believes beer has a place on the dinner table, complementing a meal.

“The food revolution has really hit, the last five years or so, where people are more interested in where their food is coming from, where their coffee is coming from, and wine has always had that sense of place,” Mr Birks said. 

“Beer has always traditionally been seen as a yobbo drink, or something that you drink lots of to forget about your bad week.

“The beers we are talking about are beers made by people who own the brewery and run the brewery.”

He believes education has a significant role to play in creating a better drinking culture and encouraged people to drink for a sensory experience, not to lose their senses. 

“Taste, not effect... Quality over quantity,” Mr Birks said.

Bendigo on the Hop participants are able to sample beers from each of 28 breweries throughout the event, which runs from 11am – 6pm.

“Touch wood, we’ve never had any trouble at all – we don’t attract that crowd,” Mr Birks said. 

“We attract a similar crowd to the blues and roots festival.”

Central Victoria is home to celebrated breweries and wineries. 

For some tourists, the region is mapped according to the alcohol produced and sold in those areas.

Harcourt is synonymous with apple orchards and cider. Heathcote has a reputation for its cellar doors.

“As a nation we are drinking less beer, but the beer we are drinking, we are buying a higher quality of it,” Mr Birks said. 

The most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Drug Strategy Household Survey lists bottled wine as the most common alcohol beverage type consumed by Australians.

Next is regular strength beer, then bottled spirits and liqueur. 

The average age at which Australians aged 14 – 24 years consumed their first serve of alcohol was 16. 

According to the data, from 2013, men were more likely to drink regular strength beer and women were more likely to drink bottled wine.