The SBS news article "Drinking age to stay at 18 despite expert's call for increase" dated 19th Novemeber 2009 states that the federal government has ruled out increasing the drinking age to 19 as a way of reducing binge-drinking during schoolies week celebrations. So...the drinking age is to stay at 18 despite expert's call for increase?
WOW!!!
I am totally surprised.
Okay so i guess 18 year olds around Australia were partying at hearing this news but seriously...at the back of our minds, we all know that this was most certainly the wrong decision.
Health advocate Ian Hickie, from Sydney University's Brain and Mind Research Institute, had called on the commonwealth to increase the legal drinking age from 18 to 19 in order to break the connection between school leaving and drinking.
But at the end of all this controversy...it has been rejected.
WHY?
Health Minister Nicola Roxon was the one who ruled out taking such a "drastic action" as raising the legal drinking age.
She claims that "it's not on our agenda to increase the drinking age".Supporting her comments by stating that "it wasn't one of the strategies recommended by the (health) prevention taskforce which provides comprehensive options for dealing with alcohol abuse, tobacco use and obesity."
SO...
I guess thats it...nothing else anyone can do.
Personally i think all this hype about what WOULD happen if the law did get passed, has created this end result. The topic received too much attention and debate, which i bet scared away everyone who was actually supporting this change.
Well...u can just imagine...what could have been.
Thousands of 18 year olds out protesting against their right to have alcohol...which will end up killing their insides.
I would have loved to see this scene...Oh well!
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1 comments:
i'm not surprised at all.Good on them. like i have said over and over again. Nobody has the right to deem 18 year olds as irresponsible. I mean, they're allowed to get married aren't they? They're able to obtain a credit card and purchase cigarettes. They can enter into legally binding contracts. For heaven sake they are even able to join the army and DIE for our country! So why do individuals believe that they shouldn't consume alcohol?
I think it was a ridiculous proposal from the outset! good on em' for knocking it back!!
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