Drought is not the problem affecting residents in rural, regional and remote NSW, communities are also suffering from the harms of alcohol misuse.
The NSW/ACT Alcohol Policy Alliance (NAAPA) has put alcohol-fuelled harm on the 2019 NSW election agenda, highlighting that the toll from alcohol is far worse outside metropolitan areas than in renowned city hotspots. There have been calls for earlier closing times in major regional centres.
The NAAPA said people in regional, rural and remote communities were experiencing a disproportional levels of alcohol harm with domestic assaults 12 times higher in these communities.
Alcohol is also leading to more motor vehicle accidents in rural NSW, where alcohol is a factor in 85 per cent of crashes.In major cities its just 17 per cent.