'Drinking is no excuse for abuse'
Interview with Helen Smyth
Community Safety Officer for Port Stephens CouncilLiquor accord: Port Stephens
Position in accord: Accord Coordinator
Strategy: Patron Education Scheme
Name of project: ‘Drinking is no excuse for abuse’
OLGR: Helen, what prompted the accord to implement this strategy?
Helen: The Port Stephens Liquor Accord wanted to get a message to the community about domestic violence and its association with excessive consumption of alcohol as this is an issue that the accord has always been concerned about because this area has a high incidence of domestic violence.
We decided to get the message across on coasters for clubs/pubs and bottle bags for bottle shops to cover all types of premises. We specifically wanted to include bottle shops because of the probability that domestic violence is more likely to occur when people become intoxicated at home than when people are out because they are aware of the responsible service of alcohol, drinking and driving laws.
Some licensed premises have also been displaying information about domestic violence on their bars and counters with wallet-sized cards which were developed by the Port Stephens Domestic Violence Committee.
OLGR: Who were you targeting to get the message across about domestic violence and its association with excessive consumption of alcohol?
Helen: We were addressing anyone who consumes alcohol in the community to put our point across that domestic violence can be aggravated by drinking alcohol excessively.
OLGR: What did you do to get it started?
Helen: First of all, I obtained quotes from suppliers and accepted ones that I thought was suitable. I sketched a concept for the bottle bags and sent it to the graphic designer while liaising with her as well as the accord members until everyone concerned was happy with the final design. Then I ordered the resources.
OLGR: Who was involved with establishing the ‘Drinking is no excuse for abuse’ strategy?
Helen: My position as the accord coordinator developed this strategy whilst liaising with members of the Port Stephens liquor accord.
OLGR: Producing large amounts of resources can be quite expensive, how did you fund the strategy?
Helen: We didn’t receive funding however we had some money in the bank from our members paying fees and money that was contributed from the council. The money we spent on graphic designing was $121 with coasters costing us $2,308 for 50,000 and bottle bags costing us $2,751 for 60,000.
OLGR: Once the strategy was established, when was it launched?
Helen: We launched it at the staff and security training workshop presented by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) and Port Stephens Council representatives at Pacific Dunes Summer House, Medowie on 13th May 2008.
OLGR: How did you get the message across to stakeholders and community?
Helen: We thought that to get the message across in the most effective way was to have the message printed on coasters and bottle bags and placed in licensed premises.
OLGR: How long do you think the strategy will run for?
Helen: I think the strategy will run until all of the resources are used. At the accord meeting before Christmas all leftover coasters and bottle bags were distributed for use during Christmas holidays when statistics for domestic violence are at its highest.
OLGR: Were you able to gather results of the strategy and did you receive any feedback?
Helen: We can’t determine the crime statistics from this strategy however 60,000 customers have taken the message home with their purchase from the bottle shops and 50,000 patrons have used a coaster with a message on it.
Anecdotal feedback has been most favourable. I received feedback from the police who attended the accord meetings and representatives from OLGR were very impressed with the message in a bottle/coasters strategy. Moree Liquor Accord has also expressed interest in rolling out this strategy.
OLGR: What were the challenges and why?
Helen: The main challenge was the fact that because of two changes in staffing, one with the manufacturer and printer of the bags and the other with the retail supplier, the bags took a long time to arrive and by the time we received them the maximum fine for secondary supply of alcohol had doubled from $5,500 to $11,000.
OLGR: So what would you recommend to other accords, if they chose to use a strategy that advertises the fine?
Helen: I would recommend to anyone who writes a fine on educational resources to put the words ‘minimum fine of…’ in front of it so that it won’t go out-of-date. We didn’t let it worry us as few people seem to receive the maximum fine and many people probably didn’t realise there is a large fine, so even though the fine amount was changed, they were still getting the message that there is a large fine.
Also, we had to have the original design for the bags modified to include more black ink and had to get rid of some logos as it is more difficult to print on to brown paper bags.
OLGR: What were the benefits?
Helen: It highlighted the link between alcohol misuse and domestic violence and also that domestic violence is a crime and hopefully we have got that message into people’s homes. We were also able to ‘sneak’ in a message about secondary supply which is always an issue!
OLGR: Our message to the Port Stephens Liquor Accord is keep up with the good work and thank you Helen for participating in this interview.
For more information contact Helen Smyth on 02 4980 0190 or
at 
helen.smyth@portstephens.nsw.gov.au.
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