Assignment Task

Question

How have the recent alcohol restriction laws in remote areas of Western Australia impacted the social well-being of Aboriginal communities?

Introduction

According to Cancer Council WA (2021), the use of alcohol costs $3.1 billion per year to the WA (Western Australia) community. This cost constitutes policing costs and hospitalizations along with road crashes and ambulances. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) also indicates that alcohol consumption and its related harm is higher in the case of remote areas when compared to major cities. Moreover, remote Western Australia had the highest proportion of people (age 14 and above), drinking alcohol at levels that placed them at harm at 36% (AIHW, 2019). Considering that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people likely have a higher proportion in remote areas, the possibility of high levels of alcohol consumption by them is cause for study. This is due to the higher healthcare burden on the Indigenous people leading to social harm affecting their wellbeing. Although the government of WA has implemented different policies to restrict alcohol consumption in remote areas, it is important to understand the impact these restrictions have on the social well-being of the Aboriginal communities. This study will therefore aim to review the influence these restrictions have had on the social well-being of the Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.

Literature Review

A study by Sun et al. (2019), aimed to identify the impact of alcohol restrictions on the utilisations of hospital and emergency department (ED) services in remote towns of Western Australia, highlighted that Australian indigenous communities can have the motivation to engage in high-risk drinking habits such as overcrowding, unemployment, homelessness, poverty, culture and tradition. Considering the harmful effects of alcohol misuse like domestic violence, injuries and affected health conditions, education about its harm and regulation on its promotion could be a good strategy. However, for remote areas such as the Kimberley region which has a high-density Indigenous population (45%), additional strategies might be required. This is due to their higher risk of alcohol misuse and its harmful effects (AIHW, 2019). The researchers, Sun et al. (2019), conducted quantitative analyses using the ED attendances and hospitalisations between 2003 and 2013 for Hall Creek and Fitzroy Crossing in Kimberly where alcohol restriction policies were implemented in 2009 and 2007 respectively. Their findings reveal a 40% and 50% reduction in alcohol-related acute hospitalisations in Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek respectively indicating a positive impact in the remote WA regions for the Indigenous communities. d’Abbs and Hewlett (2023) further discuss that the 2007 restrictions in Fitzroy Valley were led by the community as the hospitals were identifying alarming 30-40 people admissions due to alcohol-related harm and injuries. Various benefits were reported by them such as a reduction in the severity of domestic violence, reduced harm in public violence, reduced alcohol-related ED presentations, improved health awareness in families, reduced stress and better care for Indigenous families. This suggests a positive impact on the social well-being of remote regions like Fitzroy Valley in WA.

Another study by Stearne et al. (2022) tried to focus on the alcohol restriction policies in the Northern Territory (NT). However, the researchers` main goal was to identify if self-determination was acknowledged during the development of these policies. The researchers also supported Sun et al. (2019) by agreeing that First Nation Australians tend to drink more often than non-Indigenous populations exceeding the risk as per the Australian guidelines leading to higher mortality and morbidity. The researchers also acknowledge the usefulness of alcohol restrictions quoting examples of Mbantua in NT. However, through their semi-structured interviews and data analysis using NVivo, the researchers concluded that self-determination (a right for Aboriginal people to consider what is right for them and make decisions accordingly) was limited. The study suggests the implementation of the right to self-determination so that Indigenous communities are involved in the policy development procedures for improved health care outcomes.

Another study by Kowalski et al. (2023) in a study focusing on the regions of New South Wales (NSW) aimed to measure if family and domestic violence rates change if the drinking environments and alcohol trading hours were modified. According to their control group design study comprising 27309 people, it was revealed that domestic violence rates were reduced. Although this study did not focus on Aboriginal communities specifically, the results indicate a positive influence on the social well-being of the population which could also translate to the Aboriginal population if implemented successfully. However, a systematic review conducted by Hines et al. (2022) which considered 13 observational studies presented a contradicting review of the impact of alcohol restrictions on the social well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. According to them, the studies in their research did not report consistent results and that in cases of total restriction, along with consumption reduction, it could also result in unintended consequences such as consumption of alcohol outside the restricted communities along with illegal import and illicit substance use. The research provides similar recommendations to Stearne et al. (2022) and suggests considering the requirement identified by the community members when devising alcohol restriction policies and that multiple strategies should be combined to produce a comprehensive and long-lasting impact for improved social and health outcomes.

Policy Analysis

The Australian government has implemented various policies and legislation to combat alcohol-related harm to society. One set of policies is concerned with the Section 64 and Section 175 liquor restrictions under The Liquor Control Act 1988 which work to restrict bringing, possessing, and consuming liquor in defined areas of Western Australia (Department of Local Government, Sport, and Cultural Industries, 2023).

1. Strengths

   1. Prevents alcohol-related harm – Helps mitigate challenges through limited to no access to alcohol.

   2. Community safety – Allows for safer community and locality.

   3. Interventions based on past concerns – Targets challenges in the past more specific to WA.

2. Limitations

   1. Can affect local businesses – Economic implications to local businesses.

   2. Unintended consequences – Involvement in illegal importing or movement to other communities to access or seek access to other types of substance.

   3. Compliance challenge – Licence implementation and compliance by businesses due to impacted businesses (Murphy, 2023).

There is another policy instated by the Commonwealth of Australia (2019) known as the National Alcohol Strategy 2019-2028 that aims to work towards prevention and minimisation of alcohol-related harms among individuals, families, and communities.

1. Strengths of the policies

   1. Comprehensive – Provides a comprehensive approach to address the alcohol-related harm to society.

   2. Collaborative – Acknowledges collaboration and partnerships and their role to address the issue.

   3. Long-term – Focuses on a long-term horizon of 10 years for stability and continuous improvement.

1. Limitations

   1. Resource allocation – Limited resources in the long-term effort can be a challenge.

   2. Industry influence – Interventions/approach/prioritisation can change due to potential influence from industry over a longer period.

   3. Implementation challenge – Implementing a national framework for change will require huge contributions from the society and will require regular review which can be a challenge.

Methodology

A research methodology defines the approach undertaken by the researcher to conduct the study in terms of research philosophy, sampling technique, data collection and data analysis methods (Alharahsheh & Pius, 2020).

1. Research paradigm - A research paradigm is defined as the philosophical framework to guide the research process (Pandey & Pandey, 2015). The two most discussed paradigms are positivism and interpretivism. For this research, interpretivism is appropriate as the study aims to identify the influence of alcohol restrictions on the social well-being of Aboriginal communities through the interpretation of the issue provided in the literature.

2. Sampling method – The sampling method in research is defined as the process implemented for the collection of data. Sampling strategies are of two kinds, probabilistic and non-probabilistic. For this research, purposive sampling (under non-probabilistic sampling) is more suitable as it is concerned with the selection of participants/data points based on the researcher’s preference (Pandey & Pandey, 2015). The research inclusion criteria will be to add the latest journal articles published in the last 5 years in the English language and are free-full text while focusing on keyboards such as ‘alcohol restriction’ and ‘Aboriginals’ and ‘social well-being’.

3. Data collection and analyses - For this study, the researcher has considered secondary qualitative research where existing literature such as published journal articles will be used as a source of information to gather knowledge from interpretation by people in the society (Pandey & Pandey, 2015). For data analyses, thematic data analyses will be performed using the information collected from the existing literature. In this, the literature will be reviewed and analysed around the common themes generated through the research (Dawadi, 2020).

Ethics

The research will ensure that ethical conduct is followed. In the case of research, the most common form of ethical violation is plagiarism (Zimba & Gasparyan, 2021). To ensure ethical research, plagiarism-related concerns will be mitigated with the implementation of effective paraphrasing of ideas. Furthermore, all the research that will be referenced to furnish the work will be acknowledged by using citations and a mention in the reference list in an appropriate format.

Research Significance

The preliminary research findings suggest that alcohol restrictions can have various benefits considering the social well-being of the Aboriginal communities in WA. These can help policymakers and policy promoters to develop and implement policies in regions that are underexplored. However, further study should help provide clarity on certain challenges or unintended consequences that policymakers should consider when devising such policies. In addition, a limitation/challenge was identified in terms of the availability of research that directly discussed alcohol restriction and its impact on the Aboriginal community`s social well-being. This research is therefore significant to be carried out to gather a deeper understanding of the benefits and risks, if any, associated with alcohol restriction for improved care and support for Indigenous communities in WA.