Drinkwise

DrinkWise Australia (DrinkWise) is an Australian social change organisation created to bring about a healthier and safer drinking culture in Australia – where drinking alcohol excessively or drinking too young is considered undesirable. Utilising targeted, integrated and sustained social marketing approaches and developing practical education initiatives and resources allows DrinkWise to inform and support the community about responsible alcohol use.

DrinkWise's philosophy is founded on industry leadership and community partnerships. It is currently funded by voluntary contributions from alcohol industry participants, and has in the past received both Coalition and Labour Government funding to support its work.

The organisation is governed by a board of eminent Australians with backgrounds including policing, public health, education, community service, academia, research and marketing. DrinkWise's alcohol industry contributors are also represented on its board.

DrinkWise Australia was established in 2005 and then received $5 million in funding from the Federal Government as announced by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing in the then Australian Government, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP.

Under the DrinkWise constitution, the board must comprise seven (7) community members and six (6) industry representatives with the Chair being a community member. Current board members as at December 2016 are:

Community directors:

Industry directors:

None of the DrinkWise community members receive funding from the alcohol industry, although payment for their role as Board Members is provided, as it is for the Chair.

To date, DrinkWise Australia has launched a range of social marketing campaigns and initiatives including: Kids Absorb Your Drinking, Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix, Drinking – Do it Properly and "You won't Miss a Moment...if you DrinkWise".

Launched in June 2008, the Kids Absorb Your Drinking campaign marked DrinkWise Australia’s initial step towards engaging generational change in attitudes to alcohol. The campaign was created to raise awareness of the importance of role-modelling behaviour of parents in relation to their consumption of alcohol. In a 2008 media release, DrinkWise cites research that supports the view that there is a strong positive correlation between the way parents drink and how their children grow up to drink. According to DrinkWise, children form their attitudes towards alcohol a long time before they’ve had their first drink by observing how their parents and other adults around them drink.

In 2010 the Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix campaign alerted parents to emerging clinical research undertaken by Professor Ian Hickie at the Sydney University mind and brain institute that indicated that alcohol can cause damage to the developing adolescent brain. The campaign challenged parents to put aside any existing beliefs about introducing alcohol to their underage adolescents and to encourage them to delay their children’s introduction to alcohol for as long as possible. The campaign empowers parents with facts and tactics via the DrinkWise website.

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