The proposed minimum statutory sentence of 10 years imprisonment for a punch that results in a fatality could do more harm than good to the young men involved. At the same time we see alcohol regulation let off the hook for any role they can play to minimise these acts.
Much of violent offending among 18 – 24 year old men happens in the company of alcohol. Fuelled by a combination of anger and drink, lashing out is unfortunately commonplace in many licensed venues around the country.
Sure, we need to be accountable for our actions. I don’t wish to see my son as a perpetrator or a victim of such an act. But the context that often goes with these types of acts requires consideration of the ages, the developmental stage and the reflections of the individual/s involved. Judgement should be required on the act, the context and the sentence to impose, so that it benefits societal outcomes. The implications of imposing 10 years of detention without such consideration of these factors is an overreach that can also have other significant negative consequences.
Not allowing such flexibility in sentencing for an angry, impulsive act might make the headlines, but runs the very real risk of resulting in further despair amongst affected families and the outlook for the accused involved.
If the State was serious about minimising such acts then this proposal remains incomplete on another level.
Stop. Think. Consider the context.
For example, all of the recent ‘one punch fatalities’ in this State have involved alcohol in some way. Either fuelled by alcohol, or happening at a venue that sells alcohol. Yet Governments only seem concerned with the harm caused by the individual and not the harm caused by the product.
Up until recently a Melbourne billboard, funded by the alcohol industry read, ‘don’t blame the alcohol for violence, blame the individual’. A classic cop-out by the alcohol industry, but it seems this is also thinking adopted by Government.
Through this legislation, the Government is being very hard on the individual throwing the punch, yet is not simultaneously prepared to up the ante on the alcohol industry or its venues. Yet young men being served or sold liquor often whilst intoxicated is happening far too often.
The objective of the legislation will never be met unless greater management and regulation of alcohol in our community is undertaken. Too many political leaders are apologists for the alcohol industry. Surely this needs challenging.
What this issue needs is more of a whole of government response to minimise such violent acts occurring in the first place.
Our alcohol obsession has created a blind spot to having such a whole of government and subsequently it is having grave consequences across the community.
As the statistics indicate, a quarter of all Australians over the age of 14 reported being a victim of an alcohol-related incident in 2013. The 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey states that, “Excessive alcohol consumption is a cause of a wide range of health and other harms including being the major cause of road and other accidents, domestic and public violence, crime, brain damage, and contributes to family breakdown and broader social dysfunction.”
A wider approach that addresses consumption and point of sale issues will require strong political leadership to stand up to the alcohol industry, as they fight very hard for hands off accountability, but it is time to make the industry more accountable for the distribution and serving of their product.
Greater regulations, improved outcomes.
Greater enforcement surrounding the sales of alcohol to those intoxicated, greater restrictions on alcohol strength and quantity to the young, greater control over advertising and point of sale, and greater restrictions on donations by the alcohol industry to political parties all need addressing.
I’ve seen what alcohol abuse can do to children, adults and families. I know what Anglicare spends to pick up the pieces of shattered lives. I don’t want to sit back and let someone else become the target of the alcohol industry’s antipathy towards those who want limits placed on its almost unfettered access to Australians.
It may not be popular but politicians need to rethink both this law that will send young men to prison for a very long time and the role that alcohol is having on our community. Now let’s start the conversation.
Paul McDonald
Chief Executive Officer
Anglicare Victoria
