But is restricting trading hours really the answer to this national problem? Shouldn’t increased education about how misuse of alcohol harms not only physically and emotionally, but on a community-wide basis?

Shouldn’t this education be starting at a late primary school or early secondary school age, where the children are vulnerable to the influences of their peers and to the hype in the media about drinking alcohol.

By arming these young people with the proper tools to say no to excessive drinking at such an early age, the tide could turn in our nation’s alcohol culture.

In Brisbane this week for the annual Australasian Drug and Alcohol Strategy Conference, Deakin University associate professor Peter Miller described alcohol as the “elephant in the room”. “It’s the greatest cost to our society, and it continues to be,” Professor Miller said.

He says research shows restricted club trading hours was one of the strongest evidence-based strategies in combating alcohol problems in the nation.

As to what time clubs should close, the evidence points to midnight as a turning point.

“After midnight, you get a 20 per cent increase every hour, whether it’s drink driving, assaults or emergency department attendance,” Professor Miller said.

“The violent venues register that’s running out of New South Wales has shown massive improvements in terms of holding pubs accountable and reducing alcohol-related harm,” he said.

Restricting trading hours looks good on paper, but the trend among the young ones today is to get drunk at home before heading out to nightclubs around midnight.

 Making night clubs and pubs more accountable and responsible for how much their patrons drink is a moot point, if the party-goers are drunk before they go out.

Professor Miller also found strong evidence for increasing the price of alcohol, putting in place a minimum price.

Making alcohol less affordable, particularly for the teenagers, is another way of reducing the problem. Combine that with ramping up education programs in schools, in the media and the workplace will go a long way to curbing the alcohol problem.