Ms Fiona Murphy:

The Senator has a good number of statistics and probably knows more than I know. There is also evidence of increased use of alcohol among women in the country over the past ten years so it is not just to try to go down from a neutral position. We are actually increasing our alcohol intake. Some of the public health advice is around minimum pricing or what we can do to encourage young people not to start drinking alcohol. Sometimes people associate that with heavy drinking whereas actually it is probably the wine that we have in the evening that we need to cut back on, and some of the now socially acceptable drinking that takes place. It is not a popular message. We already spoke today about our need to let people know that you can get cancer under the age of 50. Although screening does not start until 50, you still need to be aware, but not many young people are thinking that far ahead. On the other hand they know people who have been affected by diseases associated with alcohol, whether it is cancer or other diseases. I agree about the multiple impacts of alcohol, where one in eight of all cancers - not just breast cancer - is associated with alcohol. The more we can do to provide support for people who struggle not to drink but also get the message across that even moderate alcohol intake can unfortunately have a negative impact.