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Speaker 1: As we just touched on with the Northern Territory Chief Minister,

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Speaker 1: we know the Association of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory is urgently calling on the Finocchio

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Speaker 1: government to retain minimum unit pricing on alcohol now. They

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Speaker 1: say it is one of the most effective policies in

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Speaker 1: reducing alcohol related harms and assaults. And the Association's executive officer,

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Speaker 1: Stephanie Holmes, joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Stephanie.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you.

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Speaker 1: You're really good, lovely to have you on the show.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate your time this morning. Now, first off, for

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Speaker 1: anyone who's not familiar with the well with the association

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Speaker 1: or the agency, who does it represent.

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Speaker 2: We represent twenty four members across the Northern Territory, so

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Speaker 2: from Darwin to Catherine to Tenant Creek and Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: And they're all treatment services, so they could be counseling services, rehabilitations,

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Speaker 2: so bring up harm minimization, research and evaluation. And we're

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Speaker 2: funded by the Northern Territory Government PHN and the federal government.

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Speaker 1: How critical are these services in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Oh, they're very critical. So the services you provide support

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Speaker 2: for anyone that's seeking to address alcohol and other drug

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Speaker 2: related harms, and they're in place to provide lots of

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Speaker 2: support for anyone depending on where they are and what

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Speaker 2: they need, and to get them receiving the support they

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Speaker 2: need to be able to withdraw or to recover from

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Speaker 2: drug and alcohol harms.

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Speaker 1: Now I know it's towards the end of last week.

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Speaker 1: There was a statement that the Association sent out noting

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Speaker 1: that the new government has been elected with the strong

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Speaker 1: mandate of course, to reduce alcohol related social issues. But

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Speaker 1: it does sound as though you've got some concerns around

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Speaker 1: the proposal to scrap the minimum floor price. We caught

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Speaker 1: up with the Chief Minister a short time ago and

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Speaker 1: she said that it is something that they're going to

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Speaker 1: forge ahead with. Stephanie, can you tell us what your

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Speaker 1: concerns are around the scrapping of this floor price?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no problem, Katie. Happy to look. The minimum unit

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Speaker 2: price for alcohol shouldn't be scrapped for several key reasons,

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Speaker 2: and particularly because with the high levels of alcohol related

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Speaker 2: harm across the territory. I guess firstly, it's been a

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Speaker 2: proven impact on reducing harm, so it's about evidence. It

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Speaker 2: comes from places like Scotland and Canada. And also you

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Speaker 2: know within the NT that shows that minimum munit pricing

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Speaker 2: actually reduces alcohol consumption and this is particularly clear in

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Speaker 2: statistics and around heavy drinkers. And it decreases the alcohol

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Speaker 2: related health issues, so it decreases hospital admissions, it decreases

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Speaker 2: the death like from cirrhosis from you know, liver disease

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Speaker 2: from cancers, and it also helps him reducing fas D

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Speaker 2: amongst you heavy chronic drinkers who may be pregnant for example.

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Speaker 2: You know, just recently the stats that came out of Scotland,

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Speaker 2: which yes, I know are different than Northern Territory, but

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Speaker 2: the alcohol fails sold by almost eight percent after minimum

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Speaker 2: munit pricing was introduced. The other reason, Katie, is that

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Speaker 2: it's targeting cheap, high strengths alcohol. So minimum unit pricing

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Speaker 2: specifically impacts the availability of cheap, high strength alcohol that

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Speaker 2: is often consumed by individuals most at risk of the

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Speaker 2: alcohol related harm. For example, it sets the minimum price

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Speaker 2: per unit, and the policy ensures that high alcohol products

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Speaker 2: are not sold the lower price that encourage excessive consumptions.

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Speaker 1: Stephanie, I know you've got probably a bit of a

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Speaker 1: battle on your hands in terms of getting the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory government on board with this. And I know even

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Speaker 1: a lot of people that listen to the show say

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Speaker 1: to me that they sort of can't understand or don't agree.

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Speaker 1: I suppose it's probably the better way of putting it

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Speaker 1: that you know that the minimum Munit pricing works, you know,

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Speaker 1: particularly when people do still seem to be able to

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Speaker 1: get their hands on alcohol one way or another. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what would you say to people that are that are

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Speaker 1: thinking they just don't agree?

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Speaker 2: Look, I would say that you know, the economic and

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Speaker 2: social benefits of keeping this policy that's free. It doesn't

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Speaker 2: cost the government anything to keep it it, you know

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Speaker 2: it has. Opponents of minimum UNI price often cite the

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Speaker 2: economic impact on businesses, but that's not true. It's the

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Speaker 2: social and economic benefits of reduced alcohol related harm will

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Speaker 2: outweigh the potential costs. So the health system's face reduced burdens,

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Speaker 2: which is really important in the territory and anywhere. But

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Speaker 2: also there's fewer alcohol related hospital admissions as a result

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Speaker 2: of it, and communities experience far less social issues such

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Speaker 2: as family and domestic violence, sexual assault, and crime. Link

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Speaker 2: to alcohol misuse. And I know the government's really strong

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Speaker 2: on crime reduction, but this actually, over time decreases that.

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Speaker 2: And the long term change I guess for the territory

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Speaker 2: and for the for all the listeners is while the

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Speaker 2: benefits of minimum unit pricing may not be immediately visible

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Speaker 2: in all areas, the long term impact of reducing alcohol

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Speaker 2: consumption changing drinking habits that actually lead to sustained health

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Speaker 2: improvements and better quality of life.

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Speaker 1: It's definitely some people asking this morning, where is the

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Speaker 1: evidence coming from or where's that data coming from.

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Speaker 2: Look cats right in the team at MENSES has done

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Speaker 2: some studies on the minimum munit pricing, and there's other areas,

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Speaker 2: not just nationally but internationally that show, you know, the

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Speaker 2: long pricing in place. In Scotland. Just recently, in the

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Speaker 2: last two weeks they've had it in for some time,

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Speaker 2: they've actually increased it again because they've noticed considerable differences.

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Speaker 2: But it takes time, and it takes time for all

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Speaker 2: of those stats to come forward and to be really

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Speaker 2: seen and understood.

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Speaker 1: There'd definitely be people listening this morning saying, you know,

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Speaker 1: what happens in those other countries isn't relevant to the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory. I mean, do we look at things like

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Speaker 1: the emergency department presentations, what kind of like what kind

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Speaker 1: of data do you reckon is the you know, the

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Speaker 1: most beneficial when you when you determine whether this works

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Speaker 1: or not.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think there's a lot of data around. I

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Speaker 2: think in terms of having a look at the crucial

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Speaker 2: data that demonstrates the effectiveness of minimum unit pricing is well.

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Speaker 2: And I know I understand territories are saying that it's

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Speaker 2: different in problem than it is in Australia, but overall

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Speaker 2: it isn't really because the key findings that we found

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Speaker 2: in the territory as well as national and international is

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Speaker 2: overall sales decline particularly and I know the government doesn't

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Speaker 2: agree with that, but there was you know, there is

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Speaker 2: an increase in you know, sales in other areas, but

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Speaker 2: not within cask wine that you know, if you have

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Speaker 2: six or four leaders and you've got forty eight standard

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Speaker 2: dreams as opposed to a bottle. But there's also that

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Speaker 2: super strength alcohol content, so it's the high ethanol products.

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Speaker 2: But the health outcomes on hospital admissions is that you know,

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Speaker 2: particularly in all and areas and John Bosser talks a

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Speaker 2: lot about this is that there is a reduction in

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Speaker 2: alcohol related hospital admissions across Central Australia and there's also

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Speaker 2: a decrease in alcohol related emergency department visits that have

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Speaker 2: been observed in both the top end and also in

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Speaker 2: Central And I think the most important thing, Katie, what

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Speaker 2: I really want to say is that the minimum unit

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Speaker 2: pricing was put into place as a safeguard policy for

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Speaker 2: people that are heavy drinkers. It was effective in reducing

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Speaker 2: consumption among heavy drinkers who are most at risk of

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Speaker 2: that alcohol related harm. And a lot of the stories

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Speaker 2: that we've got and the evidence that we've got actually

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Speaker 2: shows that the key findings are that alcohol consumption can decrease,

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Speaker 2: public impact is quite significant, and the economic benefit is

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Speaker 2: reduced in the healthcare costs associated with treating alcohol related conditions.

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Speaker 1: Stephanie, very quick one before I let you go, What

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Speaker 1: do you fear is going to happen if it is scrapped?

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Speaker 2: Look, you know, potentially what can happen is we're going

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Speaker 2: to see an increase in hospital presentations in chronic conditions

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Speaker 2: and it's going to be you know, several significant negative consequences.

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Speaker 2: And that's that you know, increase in alcohol related dot calm,

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Speaker 2: return of cheap high strengths alcohol without the minimum unit price,

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Speaker 2: cheap high alcohol products will flood the market again, making

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Speaker 2: it easier for heavy drinkers and vulnerable population groups that

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Speaker 2: we experience across the territory access high strength to alcohol.

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Speaker 2: And we'll also see spike in hospital admissions. So higher

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Speaker 2: alcohol consumption often leads to increased rates of alcohol related

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Speaker 2: health issues such as you know, deliver disease injuries and

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Speaker 2: alcohol poisoning, and we'll see that a lot with the

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Speaker 2: emergency department, Katie, and also rising death rates, so you

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Speaker 2: know shows that reductions in alcohol related deaths and removing

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Speaker 2: minimum unit pricing could reverse those games, but leading to

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Speaker 2: an uptick and preventable death and related to alcohol misuse.

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Speaker 1: Well, Stephanie, I really appreciate you having a chat with

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Speaker 1: us this morning and giving that further detail to our listeners.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time and no doubt

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Speaker 1: we'll talk to you again soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, and congratulations.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,