Alcohol abuse is a symptom of male privilege.
As patriachy has receded with the empowerment of
women from the 1970s, so too has the culture of alcohol abuse.
"It is believed that during the Convict era, when
rum was used as currency, the colony's inhabitants drank more alcohol per capita
that any other time in human history".* Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, was a noted
alcoholic. "Australia's love affair with
alcohol endured right up to the 70s when its per capita beer consumption was up
with the great boozing nations of Ireland and Germany. Since then, alcohol
consumption has been diminishing and now Australia is a teetotaller by world
standards".
Aboriginal communities bear the
brunt of paternalistic government policies as decision-making without
consultation accompanying two failed interventions over the past five
years costing $1.5b has born witness, and are thus at the
greatest risk of alcohol abuse.
The solution is the revival
of traditional governance with equality between women and men
conducted with provision in the Constitution for a women's legislative
assembly.