Alcohol Prevention Policy

Our work to reduce harm from alcohol use 

Cancer Council WA and our Alcohol Programs team work closely with other non-government organisations to advocate for improvements to the environment through policy change to reduce harm from alcohol use, including cancer.  We also work to inform community discussion about alcohol issues with the aim of reducing the impacts of alcohol on the WA community, including as a cause of cancer. There are many policy options that are known to be effective. Cancer Council’s recommendations to reduce harms caused by alcohol are outlined in the National Cancer Prevention Policy.

You can view more information on our alcohol prevention activity here.

Follow us on Twitter @AlcoholPolicyWA to keep up to date on our activities and key policy issues.

Alcohol.Think Again

The Alcohol.Think Again education program is delivered by the Mental Health Commission in partnership with Cancer Council WA. The program informs the WA community of the range of alcohol-related harms, including cancer, and ways to minimise alcohol-related risk.

Visit the Alcohol.Think Again website to view the campaigns, find tips to reduce your drinking, access online tools (e.g., What is a standard drink?), and connect with support services.

Alcohol Action Station e-newsletter

Alcohol Action Station is a fortnightly e-newsletter that aims to provide WA community members with the information and tools to take action on harms from alcohol. The purpose is to provide a brief update on the latest information on alcohol that we think will be of interest, with a focus on taking action. Sign up to the e-newsletter by emailing alcoholprograms@cancerwa.asn.au.

Additional resources: 

• • Adolescents’ perceptions of and experiences with zero alcohol products and brand extensions
  • A guide to the alcohol industry in Australia: Major alcohol producers and distributors 2023
  • Click to drink: It’s never been easier to buy alcohol in WA
  • Western Australia alcohol home delivery project: Online survey final report
  • Western Australia alcohol home delivery project: Test purchasing final report
  • Policy brief – best practice regulation for the online sale and delivery of alcohol
  • Alcohol delivery in WA: Results from an audit of online alcohol retailers prior to and following the introduction of WA Liquor Delivery Regulations
  • WA’s Hidden Crisis: Harm from Alcohol
  • Health halo or genuine product development: Are better-for-you alcohol products actually healthier?
  • Alcohol brands’ use of age-restriction controls on Facebook and Instagram in Australia
  • Are Australian regulatory codes adequate in scope to protect youth from alcohol advertising?
  • Alcohol industry arguments for putting profit before health in the midst of a pandemic: The Western Australian experience
  • Giving the ok to ‘Stay in. Drink Up.’: What happens when the alcohol industry is in charge of alcohol marketing regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • An alcohol ad every 35 seconds: A snapshot of how the alcohol industry is using the pandemic as a marketing opportunity
  • Alcohol advertisement characteristics that increase the likelihood of code breaches
  • Ending cheap alcohol gets promising results
  • The “Instagrammability of Pink Drinks”: How alcohol is marketed to women in Australia

Factsheets:

• Alcohol use in Western Australia: Drinking patterns and harms
• Alcohol use in Western Australia: Long term harms from alcohol
• Alcohol use in Western Australia: Young people’s drinking patterns and harms

Blogs:

• PHA Intouch – Industry’s bogus ad scheme fails to protect children from alcohol exposure (January, 2024)
• Croakey – Celebrities are profiting from selling their image to promote alcohol, but at what cost? (August, 2023)
• PHA Intouch – New Alcohol. Think Again campaign: What’s your poison? (July, 2023)
• Croakey – Review of Australia’s alcohol marketing code slammed as superficial and ineffective (May, 2023)
• Croakey – Children’s ballet is no place for the marketing of alcohol (February, 2023)
• Medical Forum – The ‘glass baby’ works: evaluating the Alcohol. Think Again One Drink campaign shows impressive results (November 2022)
• Medicus – Alcohol’s strain on our health system warrants urgent action (July 2022)
• Croakey – Calling for protection from a torrent of alcohol-related misinformation (June 2022)
• Croakey – Shedding light and making the case for better regulation of digital alcohol marketing (November 2021)
• Croakey – Alcohol marketing and digital platforms: stronger regulation is required (August 2021)
• MJA InSight+ – Big Alcohol and COVID-19: industry rules fail. Again. (April 2021)
• Movendi International – Exposing Big Alcohol arguments during the pandemic (October 2020)
• Hello Sunday Morning – When the chemist is promoting alcohol, do we have a problem? (October 2020)
• Pearls and Irritations – ‘Get them laughing to get them drinking’ and ‘Keep them drinking’ while they’re stuck at home. (June 2020)