Melbourne’s notorious binge-drinking nightclub culture has come under question from a Supreme Court judge as he sentenced murderer Christopher Wayne Hudson to life in prison on Monday.
Justice Paul Coghlan said the murder of lawyer Brendan Keilar as he attempted to assist a woman Hudson was assaulting may have been a result of liberal licensing laws [...]

The distilled spirits industry says the 70 per cent increase in tax on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks could lead to an increase in drink spiking.
A senate committee is looking into the tax rise on alcopops, which the Government says it has introduced in an effort to curb teenage binge drinking.
Distilled Spirits Industry Council spokesman Gordon Broderick [...]

It epitomised the hippie dream of free love and easy living in the Sixties. Songs, films and books mythologised it. But with the advent of powerful new strains such as skunk, cannabis is increasingly associated with feral youth, psychosis and violent crime. As the government prepares to reclassify the drug, is its decision borne of [...]

Fosters Group and Lion Nathan made their announcements within hours of each other, citing hardening consumer and regulatory sentiment.
Alcopops with energy additives are popular with clubbers and younger drinkers because the stimulants offset the drowsiness associated with heavy drinking. Sales of the drinks have soared to be worth nearly $700 million a year.
Fosters said it [...]

John Gillebaud, a leading academic on birth control, reproductive health and population issues, told a conference in Canberra Friday that unprotected sex leading to unwanted pregnancies is the greatest threat to mankind.
Every single week a new city of 1.7 million could be created, and the current global population growth is unsustainable, he said by videolink [...]

An online survey of 1000 people found that most men reported drinking an average of 7.6 drinks at each social occasion over summer, putting them well above the binge drinking level of six drinks in one setting, but only 20 per cent thought this constituted problem drinking, and more than half blamed other Australians for [...]

Countdowns Moorhouse Avenue supermarket, which will open on Monday, has applied for a full off-licence, which would allow it to sell spirits in addition to the beer and wine currently sold by supermarkets.
Police say it would fuel drinking problems in the city by giving young people access to heavily discounted spirits, particularly ready-to-drink spirits (RTDs).
The [...]