Publication Highlights

This report provides estimates of some of the alcohol-related harms in each of the 59 Western Australian Lower House electoral districts, based on the best available data. The magnitude of alcohol related harm is estimated in three important areas: deaths, emergency department (ED) presentations and police recorded assaults.

The Western Australian Electoral Commission provided information regarding electoral boundaries for the 2017 WA election, including the postcodes, suburbs and SA1 codes relating to each electoral district. This information was used to link alcohol harms data sources to the relevant electoral district.

The report was produced by the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth and the National Drug Research Institute, in association with the WA Alcohol and Youth Action Coalition. Access to the reported data was provided through the National Alcohol Indicators Project (NAIP) led by the National Drug Research Institute.

The report was sent to 2017 Western Australian election candidates prior to the March State election, with the aim of providing a snapshot of the scale of alcohol-related harm in their own electorates to help them form evidence-based policies aimed at tackling the issue.

This is the first time that alcohol harm data has been presented at the WA electoral district level. Future reports will seek to build on these estimates and provide additional indicators of alcohol harms.