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Speaker 1: A new research has been published on the effects of

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Speaker 1: minimum alcohol pricing, with the authors saying that the work

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Speaker 1: debunks the industry argument that the measure penalizes all drinkers.

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Speaker 1: The Public Health Association of Australia says the analysis, which

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Speaker 1: has been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal

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Speaker 1: of Public Health, demonstrates why the measure currently in place

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory is fair and should be

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Speaker 1: operated in other jurisdictions. Now, joining me on the line

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Speaker 1: to tell us a little bit more about this research

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Speaker 1: and what exactly it found is the Public Health Association

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Speaker 1: of Australia's doctor Nick Taylor.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, doctor Taylor.

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Speaker 3: Oh, good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you yeah, really good, Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Now, firstly, what was the aim of this research.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so basically, the alcohol industry claimed that all drinkers

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Speaker 3: would be harmed by the minimum alcohol price, not just

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Speaker 3: the heavy drinkers that were targeted by the policy. So

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Speaker 3: we set out to test that by examining the financial

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Speaker 3: impact the policy would have had on moderate drinkers.

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Speaker 1: So obviously, I'm assuming spoke to a number of different

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Speaker 1: people and quite a few people would have taken part

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Speaker 1: in that survey.

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Speaker 2: Can you talk us through how it worked?

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Speaker 3: So it was a fifteen minute phone survey and we

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Speaker 3: basically asked people about their what their favorite beverage was,

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Speaker 3: and their drinking practices, so how often they drank and

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Speaker 3: when they drank, how much they were drinking. We then

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Speaker 3: used that information and looked at the brands that they

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Speaker 3: mentioned and saw how much those prices were before and

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Speaker 3: after the minimum unit price came in.

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Speaker 1: What did that research tell you? How many people took

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Speaker 1: part and what did.

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Speaker 2: It tell you?

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Speaker 3: So I just saver seven hundred and seventy people were

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Speaker 3: included in the study. What we found was that for

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Speaker 3: moderate drinkers that's people who have no more than ten

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Speaker 3: drinks a week, we found that they increased they're spending

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Speaker 3: by only three dollars a year. So these were people

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Speaker 3: who were not targeted by the policy. They barely had

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Speaker 3: any financial impact as a results of the policy.

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Speaker 1: And so with that research, did you also look at

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Speaker 1: those that were targeted by the policy or was it.

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Speaker 2: More just a matter of looking at those moderate drinkers.

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Speaker 3: The survey did pick ups a fair few heavy drinkers

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Speaker 3: as well, but our estimates for them were not as reliable,

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Speaker 3: so the focus of the research was much more on

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Speaker 3: these moderate drinkers, who were the unintended targets of the policy.

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Speaker 1: I know that anecdotally, and I know, doctor Taylor, there's

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Speaker 1: going to be people listening this morning who are going,

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Speaker 1: oh goodness, me, Katie. I'm not sure that I believe

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Speaker 1: this because I guess anecdotally there are concerns around the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory that people sort of gone from drinking cask

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Speaker 1: wines to heavy drinks like rum and other spirits. But

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Speaker 1: did the research look into that, Well, did it look

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Speaker 1: into that?

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Speaker 3: Not this particular study, but we have had other studies

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Speaker 3: that have looked at alcohol, how alcohol is being consumed

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Speaker 3: across the territory. There is a rise in spirits consumption

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Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory, but that started before the minimum

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Speaker 3: unit price came in. Further than that, alcohol substitution tends

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Speaker 3: to work where if the price of cask wine increased,

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Speaker 3: heavy drinkers would move to the next cheapest drink, which

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Speaker 3: in this case would be beer and not spirits, which

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Speaker 3: are much more expensive than cask wine.

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Speaker 1: I know we've had a lot of you know, we

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Speaker 1: have had a lot of alcohol related issues in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory of late but also historically, particularly in places

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Speaker 1: like Alice Springs. How does the floor price sort of

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Speaker 1: help with some of those really serious concerns around crime

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Speaker 1: or even hospital admission or again, was that something that

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Speaker 1: was looked at?

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Speaker 3: So this is something that we've looked at in our

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Speaker 3: other research and basically all related problems are more likely

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Speaker 3: with heavier alcohol consumption. So what the minimum unit price

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Speaker 3: does is it reduces the amounts that heavy the amount

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Speaker 3: of alcohol JM sorry consumed during a heavy consumption session,

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Speaker 3: and therefore reduces the likelihood of all of these times.

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Speaker 3: And we have seen reductions in emergency department attendances as

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Speaker 3: well as police as well as alcohol related assaults.

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Speaker 2: Now can you tell us as well?

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Speaker 1: I know that there has been some discussion about this, well,

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Speaker 1: the floor price now being implemented across the nation. Based

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Speaker 1: on the research that you have done, why should that happen?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think other jurisdictions that have issues with

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Speaker 3: heavy alcohol consumers should consider the minimum unit price. It's

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Speaker 3: shown to reduce harm, it doesn't have any cost to

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Speaker 3: the government. We've shown that it doesn't have any cost

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Speaker 3: to be moderate drinkers who shouldn't be affected by the policy,

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Speaker 3: and it's just an option that should be considered without

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Speaker 3: this without this claim from the alcohol industry that it

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Speaker 3: will harm everybody well.

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Speaker 1: Public Health Association of Australia, Doctor Nick Taylor, I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning and appreciate you having a

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Speaker 1: chat to us about the research excellent.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 2: Thank you