Party smart, drink safe: New South Wales teaches youth how to navigate nightlife

SYDNEY – Grace Alexander, a high school student in Australia, will celebrate her 18th birthday on Oct 16 and will be legally allowed to attend bars, pubs and nightclubs for the first time.

But she already had a taste of clubbing in 2023 after a mock visit to a popular nightclub in her home town of Albury in New South Wales as part of a new programme for students that promotes safety at venues serving alcohol.

Called Pause Play, the programme encourages young people to pause and consider their actions rather than act impulsively. A trial in 2023 involved 450 students, mostly 17-year-olds, in Grace’s home town. A second run is scheduled for November.

“Like every other 18-year-old, I will soon be heading out to pubs and clubs and trying it out,” Grace said. “It can be a bit intimidating, so it was really valuable to learn what to expect and what to do if things go wrong.”

Pause Play was developed by Albury’s Liquor Accord – a partnership involving operators of bars, pubs and venues, as well as councils, businesses, the police, government departments and community members, to develop strategies for addressing local alcohol-related issues.

“We are trying to teach them to stay calm and be aware of the consequences of their actions,” Mr Stephen Jones, chairman of Albury Liquor Accord, told The Straits Times. Until recently, he also operated two licensed venues in the town.

Mr Jones said a mock visit to a nightclub was particularly useful for students who had missed out on social interactions and visits to public venues during the Covid-19 lockdowns. “We teach them to stick to one drink until they know what they are doing, and to talk to staff or security guards if there are any incidents,” he added.

The visit during the trial was conducted on a schoolday afternoon when the nightclub was closed to patrons. It included mocktails rather than alcohol-based drinks, a deejay, and a dance floor that gave students an authentic experience of venues that many of them will soon be attending.

Before the visit, they attended a seminar on what can go wrong at licensed venues and how to respond. Topics included staying calm during incidents that might lead to violence, the risks of using drugs, and being cautious of threats such as drink spiking.

The authorities in Australia have been working to address longstanding concerns about alcohol-related assaults and injuries involving young people. Research prepared for the federal government in December 2023 found that “a substantial proportion of Australian adolescents still engage in drinking behaviours that put their health at risk”.

But surveys have found that alcohol use among students aged 12 to 17 has steadily declined over the past 30 years. In 2023, 65 per cent of high school students reported drinking alcohol and 11 per cent had drunk in the previous week. These rates were 89 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, in 1996.

An expert on youth drinking practices in Australia, Dr Amy Pennay from La Trobe University, told ST that young people in Australia today are “a more cautious, risk-averse generation” and often highly focused on careers or global affairs. But this “doesn’t mean nobody is drinking”, she said.

“There are still pockets of youth culture that are drinking heavily and think it’s normal,” she said.

The Albury programme will be rolled out across New South Wales, which has 8.5 million residents.

Announcing the decision on Sept 23, Ms Melanie Brown, an executive at the state’s liquor and gaming agency, said the aim was to show teenagers “what to expect and how to stay safe”.

“(Pause Play) equips young people with the things they need to know so they can stay safe, feel comfortable and have a great time,” she said in a statement.

“This includes how to enter a licensed venue, interact with other patrons and get home safely.”

Dr Pennay noted that the most effective way to reduce drinking levels among young people is through measures targeting the entire population, such as increasing the cost of alcohol, reducing availability, or changing the minimum drinking age.

Describing Pause Play as “a good initiative”, she added that the effectiveness of educational initiatives could be difficult or costly to monitor. “It would be good to follow the cohort over time and evaluate how they have gone with their drinking,” she said.