Manly’s Steyne Hotel should be congratulated for trialling a ban of alcopops in an effort to get binge drinking under control, said Manly MP and Shadow Minister for Youth Mike Baird.

“Australia has the highest per capita consumption of alcopops in the world – they are the drink of choice for many young Australians, particularly females, because the alcohol content is disguised,” said Mr Baird.

“Almost 50% of girls as young as 12 said their last drink was an alcopop – this is compared with 8% for beer and 11% for wine, according to a recent survey by the Australian Divisions of General Practice.

“The Steyne Hotel should be applauded for recognising the role alcopops play in facilitating binge drinking and for doing something about it.

“Our new Police Commander Superintendent Dave Darcy has also wasted no time in tackling Manly’s alcohol-related problems head on,” he said.

“Last year the Steyne Hotel banned the high-alcohol Jager bomb after it noticed a steep increase in consumption among patrons.

“And following a meeting I hosted with the Manly Liquor Accord last June, Manly licensees tightened its Code of Conduct to clamp down on antisocial behaviour.

“We are starting to see Manly’s proactive stance pay off, with the Auditor General finding last month that alcohol-related incidents in Manly had stabilised while the majority of the state had experienced an increase.

“Unfortunately we have a culture in Australia where it is normal for an evening to be fuelled by alcoholic drinks from beginning to end. This needs to change.

“If we know that drinks such as alcopops are an ingredient that play a key part in making young people intoxicated, we can’t ignore it.

“Manly should be proud of leading the state in the bold steps it is taking to get anti-social behaviour under control,” Mr Baird said.

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