Calls to end late night booze deliveries

Dozens of health experts say this scary statistic should spell the end to booze deliveries to homes after 10pm.

Dozens of health experts are pushing to ban booze deliveries to homes after 10pm.

Dozens of health experts are pushing to ban booze deliveries to homes after 10pm following an increase in alcohol-related deaths during lockdowns.

With interstate borders opening and allowing Australians to socialise with friends and family for the first time in months, the Australian Health Policy Collaboration is warning late night alcohol drop offs could be a recipe for disaster.

Sixty of Australia’s leading health policy experts have joined the call to halt late alcohol deliveries before the Christmas and New Year period, highlighting new Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealing an eight per cent jump in alcohol-related deaths during 2020.

Professor Rosemary Calder from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute and AHPC said banning late night home booze deliveries was needed to save lives and cut rising rates of chronic illness linked to risky drinking.

Statistics revealed an eight per cent jump in alcohol-related deaths during 2020.

“The potential for unrestricted access to alcohol, late night trading and late night deliveries in particular, are likely to literally fuel risk risks to vulnerable people, whether it’s from intoxication, overconsumption of alcohol or violence,” Prof Calder said.

The AHPC push is being backed by health and policy experts from across Australia’s universities and research centres, recommending restricted late night supply of alcohol, banning booze sales after 3am and only allowing home delivery to between 10am and 10pm.

Led by the Mitchell Institute, the collaboratio is also calling for alcohol volume taxes currently placed on spirits and beer to be extended to wine, cider and other fruit-based drinks, as well as a 10 per cent rise in the tax.

“We have seen a big jump in both men and women dying from an alcohol-induced illness such as poisoning or liver disease, however even relatively limited alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of many chronic illnesses, including breast and other cancers, heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression and anxiety,” Professor Calder said.