Fact: Aussies love a drink.
We’re the good time party people, always ready with a tinnie, a ciggie, and if you’re lucky, a doobie too. Aussies are the cheeky people, the good time gals, the last ones standing, and are always, always, up for a drink.
But this fun-loving attitude that exists at the very core of our nation’s identity is swiftly becoming something darker – with drug and alcohol use on the rise, a very real problem of dependence is emerging.
So how, in a the land of milk and honey, green smoothies, outdoor yoga, and 1pm lockouts have we managed to becoming the booziest we’ve ever been?
From Bob Hawke, our former PM who also held the record for sculling a yard glass of beer (11 seconds, if you were wondering), to Karl Stefanovic, beloved boozehound and TV host who turned up pissed as a newt following a night on the turps at the 2009 Logies; our nation has been founded on drinking.
Yup, to be Australian is to die with a pair of BBQ tongs in one hand, and a XXXX Bitter in the other.
But in recent years, something has changed.
Specifically, two things happened: firstly, a scary wave of youth violence swept our nightlife. Coward punches, drug overdoses, and drink spiking became the ugly flip side of the coin, the darker result of a changing scene of drinking.
Simultaneously, the Mindful Revolution reached our sunburnt shores, and suddenly, green smoothies, body worship, and beach yoga were IN; and the Great Australian Boozy Lunch, beer bongs, and Friday work drinks were OUT.