A floor price would put a lid on alcohol abuse

Most people staying on town camps also have access at least on occasion to the homes of relatives and friends amongst the three quarters of the town's Aboriginal population who live in houses where drinking is not banned.

The prohibition against taking alcohol onto town camp leases is not motivated by racial prejudice, but rather by government's (and society's) responsibility to try to reduce the extraordinary amount of alcohol-related violence, injury, illness, death, crime and child neglect being caused or triggered by alcohol in those geographic locations.

These special measures must have community support in order to comply with the Racial Discrimination Act, and PAAC supports the application of special measures in this way.

PAAC's main policy approach in this area however has been to emphasise evidence-based, population-wide measures that have the greatest impact on heavy drinkers, no matter what their race. This is the most important omission from the Australian alcohol policy landscape.

Special measures should only be seen as being additional to, rather than the substance of, good alcohol policy. They are 'icing on the cake,' but at present there is no real national alcohol policy cake.

Several overseas jurisdictions, especially in provinces of Canada, have implemented floor prices on alcohol. A recent article in the prestigious journal Addiction has shown that for every ten per cent increase in the minimum price, alcohol-attributable deaths fall by 32% - an extraordinary public health algorithm. England, Scotland and Wales in the UK are also planning the introduction of floor prices, mainly to reduce the attractiveness and availability of cheap wine used by many young people for 'pre-loading' before a night out on the town. A floor price would also provide a bulwark against unhealthy and anti-social over-use of cheap alcohol by people with nothing better to do with their time.

Australia urgently needs a national alcohol floor price based on the price of beer. This would provide a fundamental structural hindrance to the excessive use of cheap alcohol by many people who are vulnerable to addictions.

Regions with higher than average alcohol consumption need further population-wide measures such as one day a week without take-away sales, linked to Centrelink payments.

If these two measures - a floor price based on the price of beer, and a day free from sales of take-away alcohol - were in place in Alice Springs, then the supply of alcohol would be less accessible to everyone, but would have a bigger impact on those who drink the most.

It only takes a little more thought to understand that the prevention and minimisation of serious alcohol-related problems in those who are not presently addicted (and minimisation of harms to the families of problem drinkers and the rest of society) is closely related to getting the optimal balance of availability, price, regulation, education, self-discipline and informed demand.

It would help the serious discussion of alcohol issues and realistic solutions if journalists were able to consider these factors when reporting on alcohol-related problems in central Australia.