Caring for mates not number of beers is responsible drinking

As the Christmas party season gears up, new research from The ANU has found Australians don't know, and 'wildly underestimate' guidelines for responsible drinking. Despite this, Australians felt a deep sense of social responsibility to others when drinking and uniformly cited drink driving as the ultimate act of irresponsible drinking. The research also uncovered some astonishing strategies used to mitigate the effects of alcohol, like switching from beer and brown liquors to white spirits and champagne over the course of an evening. The research was led by Professor Simone Dennis from ANU and Professor Andrew Dawson from the University of Melbourne and commissioned by Alcohol Beverages Australia (ABA). "Our research shows Australians feel a very deep sense of responsibility when they go out drinking in the form of obligations to others in their drinking circle and in their personal, professional and community relationships," Professor Dennis said. "To date, we have wrongly assumed that people don't have a sense of responsibility towards alcohol in Australia.   "This a far cry from problem drinking that sparked the one-punch legislation and lock-out laws which people felt tarred them all with the same brush.