The Hon Kevin Humphries MP, NSW Minister for Mental Health - FARE

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42 per cent reduction in residents’ experience of alcohol fuelled verbal
abuse;
33 per cent reduction in alcohol-related street offences;
30 per cent reduction in the number of residents who reported drinking at
levels that placed them at high-risk of alcohol-related violence, accidents
and injuries .
Given the known relationships between excessive alcohol consumption and poor
physical and mental health, these findings are particularly encouraging.
The Alcohol Action in Rural Communities project has shown that collaboration
between communities and researchers is not only possible, but can achieve
internationally recognised results. There is a good opportunity now to think about
how we can get better at this sort of collaboration in across our communities in
NSW, and develop responses which have proven to work in our communities, and
which communities will have responsibility for.
From the Government’s perspective, we will continue to engage with the
community to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol through programs such as the
Community Drug Action Teams, which enable local communities to identify and
reduce the harm caused by the misuse of alcohol and other drugs within their
communities.
There are currently over 80 CDATs across NSW that undertake various projects in
response to alcohol misuse including poster campaigns, information days, youth
forums, music festivals and mentoring programs.
Since the AARC project and CDATS share the same aim, the results of the
AARC study are expected to have a significant impact on the work undertaken by
CDATs through its assessment and measurement of the most effective types of
intervention to reduce alcohol related harm in local communities.