POLICY ASK: Maintain the Tackling alcohol-fuelled violence measures across Queensland

POLICY ASK: Maintain the Tackling alcohol-fuelled violence measures across Queensland and assess their effectiveness in light of the evidence provided in the final report of the independent evaluation

Maintain the Tackling alcohol-fuelled violence measures across Queensland and assess their effectiveness in light of the evidence provided in the final report of the independent evaluation

Every parent of a young person fears that phone call in the middle of the night to say that their child has been injured following an altercation during a night out on the town. The last drinks measures introduced on 1 July 2016 are designed to reduce the risk of this occurring. The evidence shows that they will work. The people of Queensland strongly support the introduction of the last drinks policy with 72 per cent in favour of the measures in 2017.[i] An evaluation is underway to see whether they are working and identify barriers to their success. Already, this evaluation has identified that the late night trading permits that allowed licensed venues to trade until 5am, were seriously undermining the effectiveness of the measures. This continued from 1 July 2016 until the number that licensed venues could apply for was reduced from 12 to six permits per year in March 2017. The last drink measures should be retained so they are in place for a sufficient period of time to allow them to take effect without the confounding effect of the late night permits. QCAA calls for bipartisan support for retaining the measures until at least the time when the Government has received the final evaluation report and considered its findings, so that a decision on the future of the measures can be made, based on the evidence presented in the report.

QCAA will continue sharing content about the Platform on social media, and would appreciate it if you could also encourage your networks to share with their connections. You can support us by:

1. Creating your own tweets (you can use the images attached)

2. Using the tweets below

3. Re-tweeting @QLDCAA tweets on Twitter

Below are some suggested tweets:

• Maintain the #alcohol late night trading measures introduced in QLD until final evaluation report is considered late 2018 #qldpol #qldvotes @AnnastaciaMP @TimNichollsMP @RobKatter3 @QldGreens @SteveDicksonMP ‏@DrAnthonyLynham @YvetteDAth @IanWalker_MP @katejonesQqld @Gracextwo

• 72% of Queenslanders support the late night trading measures introduced in 2016 #alcohol #qldpol #qldvotes @AnnastaciaMP @TimNichollsMP @RobKatter3 @QldGreens @SteveDicksonMP ‏@DrAnthonyLynham @YvetteDAth @IanWalker_MP @katejonesQqld @Gracextwo

The suggested Parliamentarians have again been included in the tweets, following the roll-out of 280 character tweets. Alternatively you can tag them when you attach the images.

Thank you for your support in promoting these necessary and popular measures to reduce alcohol harm.