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Alcohol Change Australia submitted a 2025-26 Pre-Budget submission, that focused on preventing and reducing the impacts of alcohol related harm in Australia. The submission presented opportunities to raise revenue and also to invest in public health to reduce the harms caused by alcohol.    Alcohol Change Australia recommended that the 2025-26 Budget:  Use pricing policies to reduce alcohol related harms by:  Removing the Wine Equalisation Tax and introducing a volumetric tax for wine and other fruit-based alcohol products.    Maintaining Consumer Price Index increases on excisable alcohol products.  Empower the community by raising awareness of the harms caused by alcohol by:  Substantially investing in the development and implementation of evidence-based, targeted, and ongoing campaigns and preventative programs that increase awareness of alcohol harms and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol.  Introducing health warning labels on all alcohol products that are mandated, standardised, and present rotating health messages.    Read the full submission here....

25 February, 2025

This submission was in response to the review of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice (the Code). Our response centred on the need to protect the community, particularly children and young people, from alcohol advertising.   We know that exposure to alcohol advertising contributes to harm. The existing Code and the draft changes proposed in the review fail to adequately protect Australians, particularly children and young people, from alcohol advertising on television.  Our response included a number of recommendations to protect the community from alcohol advertising. Read the full response here....

05 December, 2024

This submission was to the Joint Select Committee into Social Media & Australian Society and submitted in June 2024. For details on the inquiry visit the homepage. Every Australian should be able to grow up and live in an environment that supports their health and wellbeing. Yet our community is constantly bombarded with promotions for alcohol, including on social media. Higher standards and regulation for how unhealthy products are marketed on digital platforms, including social media, are urgently needed to better protect the community.  To protect Australians from the harm caused by alcohol our response recommended that the Australian Government implement the following recommendations: Introduce a regulatory framework with legislative basis that effectively protects the community from exposure to alcohol marketing, including on social media.   Prohibit the collection, use and disclosure of children’s data for commercial purposes (including the profiling, monitoring, tracking, and targeting). Substantially invest in the development and implementation of evidence-based, targeted, and ongoing campaigns and preventative programs, including through social media, that increase awareness of alcohol harms and the NHMRC Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol.    Read the full submission here....

05 November, 2024

This submission was to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport for the inquiry into the health impacts of alcohol and other drugs in Australia. Alcohol products take a significant toll on our communities, fuelling violence, injuries and deaths. Our response to this inquiry focused on preventing the health impacts of alcohol in Australia and presented a suite of opportunities to reduce harms caused by alcohol products. Specifically, we recommended that the Government: Deliver a coordinated approach to preventing and reducing alcohol-related harm Protect the community from alcohol marketing Address cheap alcohol that fuels harm Empower the community by raising awareness of the harms caused by alcohol Create healthy public policy free of industry influence.   Read the full submission....

17 October, 2024

This response was submitted as part of the Statutory Review of the Online Safety Act 2021 and our response relates to the harms caused online by digital alcohol marketing practices. Digital technologies can provide the community with benefits that support health and wellbeing, including social connectivity, access to learning opportunities, and flexible working opportunities. However, digital platforms are currently operating in a way that enables harmful marketing for unhealthy products, including for alcohol. Higher standards and regulations for how unhealthy products are marketed on digital platforms are urgently needed to better protect the community. Alcohol Change Australia strongly recommend that the Australian Government implement the following recommendations in relation to the Online Safety Act to protect Australians from harm online caused by harmful alcohol marketing: Expand the scope of online harms addressed by the Act to include harmful online advertising, including the advertising or promotion of alcohol. Protect the community, including children from exposure to alcohol marketing online. This includes requiring online services to ensure that all services children can access are free from harmful advertising, including of alcohol. Additionally, online services must be required to ensure that people are not targeted with harmful product advertising on their services. Online services must ensure that people are required to provide informed and explicit opt-in consent to receive any harmful product advertising while using their service. Require online services to ensure all harmful advertising on their service includes an evidence-based warning. For example, a standard health warning on any alcohol advertising.   Download the full submission...

25 June, 2024

This submission to the Senate inquiry into access to Parliament House Australia by lobbyists focuses on the urgent need to strengthen regulation of lobbying activities at the Federal level in Australia to help prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm....

14 February, 2024

This submission to the Attorney-General’s consultation on the Government response to the Privacy Act Review Report relates to the impact of privacy reforms on digital alcohol marketing practices, particularly the collection and use of people’s data by digital platforms and alcohol companies to aggressively promote and sell alcohol....

30 March, 2023

This submission to the consultation on Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s proposal to provide energy labelling information on alcoholic beverages supports the implementation of standardised, mandated, evidence-informed energy labels on alcoholic products to help support Australians to make informed dietary decisions. It highlights there is urgent need for consumer testing to understand the potential impacts of energy labelling on a range of health behaviours, including alcohol use. ...

20 March, 2023

This submission to the Senate Inquiry into the influence of international digital platforms focuses on the need to protect consumers from harm fuelled by unhealthy marketing on digital platforms. ...

27 February, 2023

This submission to the consultation on ACCC’s regulatory reform recommendations focuses on the need to protect consumers from harm fuelled by unhealthy marketing on digital platforms. ...

15 February, 2023