Banning the sale of cask wine is the latest recommendation to help curb dangerous drinking levels in Australia’s Northern Territory. Nastasia Campanella reports.

The AMA has found that increasing sales costs for cask wine reduced consumption levels. Image: Kris Krug

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is pushing to ban cask wine in the Northern Territory after a recent study was published in The Medical Journal of Australia.

The study found that per capita consumption of pure alcohol for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations in the Northern Territory has been about 14 litres or more per year for many years.

According to Steven Skov from the Northern Territory Department of Health and Families, figures of dangerous drinking levels in the NT are 50 percent higher than other states in Australia.

“Often there is a perception that drinking is a problem with Indigenous people; it is non-Aboriginal people as well,” he said.

“Both men and women are practicing risky drinking behaviour as well.”

Skov described ‘risky drinking behaviour’, as more than 28 standard drinks per week for males and 15 for women.

“The rate of people being hospitalised as a result of risky drinking has increased and the numbers of alcohol related deaths as too,” said Skov.

“People dying because of alcohol in the Northern Territory is 3.5 times the national rate.”

Information from the National Drug and Research Institute at Curtin University, showed that these figures obtained by the study were substantially higher than international rates.

In 2003, Luxembourg had the highest alcohol consumption rate of the 179 countries surveyed, at 15.6 litres per person, per year.

Ireland came in second place with 13.7 litres.

President of the AMA in the Northern Territory, Paul Bauert said banning cask wine was a step forward to fixing this problem.

“It would slow down alcohol consumption by raising price and decrease availability,” he said.

“We have a large problem of people coming to the major towns like Darwin and Katherine and they are accessing alcohol.”

Bauert said cask wine would be the easiest to ban in the immediate future.

“Cask wine is easily obtainable because it’s cheap,” he said.

“People are buying it, sharing it, distributing it in coke bottles and drinking on the streets with other people which then leads to anti-social behaviour.”

The Living With Alcohol program, which was put into action in the Territory during the early 90’s, shows that increasing prices on certain alcohols decreased consumption.

General levies were placed on products containing over three percent of alcohol, with extra costs added to the sale of cask wine.

Skov said there was a reduction in cask wine consumption with figures jumping from 0.73 litres of pure alcohol per person over the age of 15 per quarter, to 0.49 litres.

“Many believe the best way to curb this problem would be to increase the price per standard drink,” he said.

“Most people, including heavy drinkers are very good at figuring out what is the cheapest way to get a certain quantity of pure alcohol and the particular form of it is secondary.”

Skov explained that when cask wine was banned in Alice Springs three years ago, retailers aggressively marketed cask port and people switched.

“Placing a volumetric tax on cask wine may be a much better method of dealing with alcohol abuse.”

Constellation Wines in South Australia is just one manufacturer who would be affected by the move.

Group Manager, Anita Poddar said their company isn’t worried about a loss of profits.

“We support the responsible consumption of alcohol,” said Poddar.

“We’re not concerned about the impact of the ban on our business – we are concerned that groups at risk will stop drinking cask wine and switch to other substances.”

Andrew Wilsmore, General Manager for Policy and Government Affairs at the Winemakers Federation of Australia has similar views.

He said no winemaker wanted to see their product abused.

“Winemakers would be rightly concerned if the banning of cask wine was adopted as a stand alone measure,” he said.

“Experience tells us that this will have little effect in reducing alcohol abuse and other forms of abuse in general.”

Wilsmore said the wine industry was already aware of the situation in the Territory.

“We’re working with the Federal Government and relevant bodies in the NT on existing restrictions on four-litre cask sales in selected communities and town centres.”

He said profits will fall for the industry if the banned goes ahead, but retailers won’t feel the pinch as they are likely to see increased sales in other beverages.

“We would much prefer a nation drinking wine in moderation with a meal most nights of the week than the abuse of our product in one sitting.”