New polling has found almost three quarters of Queenslanders support the late-night trading measures announced by the Queensland Government to reduce alcohol-related violence.
The poll conducted by Galaxy Research has also highlighted increasing support for action to reduce alcohol harms, with 80 per cent of Queenslanders believing more needs to be done, up from 74 per cent in 2015.
Commissioned by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), the polling comes as the Queensland Government Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee completes a round of public hearings into the soon to be introduced Tackling Alcohol-Fuelled Violence (Amendment Bill) 2015.
The poll found that 74 per cent of Queenslanders surveyed support the late-night trading measures announced by the Palaszczuk Government which would see licensed pubs and clubs stop serving alcohol at 2am or 3am in order to address alcohol-related violence.
Most Queenslanders (59 per cent) also do not believe that governments are currently doing enough to address alcohol misuse.
Three Queenslanders die each day as a result of alcohol related harm and another 93 are hospitalised every day.
FARE Chief Executive Michael Thorn says the polling responses make clear that Queenslanders recognise that not enough is being done to reduce this dreadful burden.
“This latest polling contains an important message for the Queensland Parliament ahead of the introduction of the legislation to tackle alcohol violence. The vast majority of Queenslanders find the current levels of alcohol violence unacceptable, they demand strong action and importantly, they understand that if we’re serious about reducing the harms, we have to embrace evidence-based measures proven to save lives and make our communities safer,” Mr Thorn said.
The Galaxy poll found almost a third (29 per cent) of Queenslanders have been affected by alcohol-related violence.
In addition, around two thirds (65 per cent) of Queenslanders consider the city centre or town to be unsafe on a Saturday night, a significant increase from 52 per cent in 2015, with the majority of those (91 per cent) indicating that it was people affected by alcohol that made them feel this way.
Mr Thorn said he hoped the Parliamentary Committee would acknowledge the wide level of support for measures to address alcohol harm, and called for bipartisan support of the legislation when it comes before Parliament later this month.
“Despite the noise and fury coming from many self-serving Queensland alcohol industry players, as the latest polling makes very clear, these harm reduction measures are in fact hugely popular. More importantly, these life-saving measures are proven to be effective, and I would hope that strong bipartisan support ensures the measures are passed into law in the coming weeks,” Mr Thorn said.
