A spate of raucous parties in Cairns has highlighted gatecrashers and noisy neighbours, but at the core of the problem lie permissive parents and the ease with which teens can obtain alcohol. DENISE CARTER reports 

In emergency departments all over Australia, doctors and nurses, already stretched for time and resources, spend large amounts of time attending to alcohol‑related problems.

In Cairns Base Hospital, staff specialist in emergency medicine Dr Jim Reeves has worked through "the smell of stale beer in the early hours of weekend mornings" for 16 years.

Alcohol is the predominant underlying link in cases presented to the emergency department at weekends, he says, and people with alcohol-related problems take up to 10 of the emergency department’s 23 beds.

Accidents from people taking risks while under the influence, fighting injuries, acute decompensation and psychological disorders are seen in Cairns Base.

"It’s like a war zone," Dr Reeves said. "Alcohol releases a whole host of demons."

The people he sees represent a broad age spectrum "up to 80 years who are chronic alcohol abusers".

"It brings out the worst in people," Dr Reeves said.

And especially at weekends, nurses and doctors have to deal with both the verbal abuse and bad behaviour of those intoxicated to add to their already heavy workload.

The numbers of those presenting with alcohol-related problems are grossly understated because when patient diagnoses are recorded, it’s voluntary whether doctors record if a patient’s problems are alcohol related or not.

But those recorded showed in little over a year 54 teenagers, aged between 15 and 19 years, and 15 even younger presented at Cairns Base with emergencies related to alcohol.

In a country suffering the effects of a huge alcohol problem, why are we allowing teens to drink, much less organising parties so they can do it en masse?

Following Corey Worthington’s Melbourne bash that spun out of control and ended in police intervention, Cairns has seen its own spate of teen parties with Ben Bauer’s 16th birthday party in Bayview Heights and Ryland Davis’s 16th in Gordonvale.

"We as a society have made Corey and all his lookalikes," social trends expert David Chalke, a social analyst with AustraliaSCAN said.

"We created less parenting capacity around young people, giving young people more freedom, and more money."

And although the Cairns teens weren’t home alone like Corey and their parents were present and helped organise the parties, the outcome has been similar.

"Alcohol is the real problem," David Chalke said, and he hopes the parties will open people’s eyes to the problems of teen drinking.

"80 per cent of teenagers under the age of 18 have drunk alcohol, while one quarter drink regularly," he said. "What’s needed is a more prohibitive constraint on under‑18 drinking."

Stricter licensing laws are needed, he said, as it’s not too difficult for 15 to 17-year-olds to buy alcohol.

But the biggest problem is the people who have the most influence on teenager’s lives: their parents.

"Parents are complicit, either buying alcohol for them, giving it to them, or condoning it," he said.

"They are a generation who want to be friends with their children."

The parents of today’s teenagers have been brought up in a more liberal world and they think they are being progressive in their parenting, but "it has gone too far", Mr Chalke said.

"I’m a firm believer that we as a society need to educate, skill, and find new ways to empower parents," he said.

Director of Cairns Addiction Help Agency Diane Forsythe said she has found school forums for parents and children helpful in educating and creating conversations around alcohol and drugs.

"No parent in their right mind would organise a party and allow teens to drink to excess," Ms Forsythe said.

"They are condoning it and setting up a pattern of harmful behaviour.

"What they should be doing is setting up parties that are drug and alcohol free to let them see they can have fun without it and can socialise in a healthy way."

The teens Ms Forsythe sees in her practice are those who have had a nasty experience.

"They may black out and not know what has happened," she said.

"Once they get a scare and get some help, they can often turn it around."

At present, it is not illegal for under-18s to drink alcohol on private property, so the onus is on parents to prevent their children from drinking.

"It’s a child safety issue," Cairns police Sergeant Caroline Barker said.

Mid-year laws will be introduced to fine adults $3000 for reckless supply of alcohol to minors.

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