Changing booze culture on to-do list

Helping to change WA’s booze culture is on Warnbro teenager Brix Ottaway’s to-do list.

As the youngest member to be asked to join the Rockingham Kwinana Local Drug Action Group, the 17-year-old said she wanted to use the opportunity to make a real difference.

“I think it’s very important to educate the youth about the risks of alcohol and drugs present,” Brix said.

“People need to be aware of the risks in order to say no.”

Brix said she did not understand the appeal in underage drinking.

“Why not wait a few more years until you are 18,” she said.

“To me, it’s just trying to grow up, but what’s the fun in that? You should hold onto your childhood as long as you can.”

Brix said in an ideal world she would “love” to see no underage drinking and no drug use, but would settle for people having more knowledge on the subject.

Rockingham LDAG president Lorraine Dunkling said the Rockingham group started 15 years ago and helped educate youth about the risks of drugs and alcohol with informative and interactive presentations at high schools.

In a bid to stamp out underage drinking, Mrs Dunkling said the group had sent a submission to the Liquor Act Committee to change the Secondary Supply Legislation Act to make the secondary supply of alcohol to adolescents under 18 on private premises’ illegal.

Mrs Dunkling said the group consulted with parents before making the submission.

“The parents said they were getting peer pressure from their kids about giving them alcohol, so they said they would like laws that actually said ‘it is illegal for us to give you alcohol’ because in their own home it’s not and they can give other people’s kids alcohol which they consider is wrong as well,” she said.