At the moment in Australia the drinking age is 18 and I think that it is time to taking the case of lowering the age into our own hands. Surveys show that nearly 10 million youths aged 12-20 in Australia report that they have consumed alcohol in a 30 day period in 2011. The century council has created a survey, results show that over 55% of teenagers (12-17) said they had been offered or had the opportunity to drink alcohol in the last 12 months. Most teenagers between the ages 12 and 17 had been offered or had the opportunity at a friend’s house or at home from their parents. Out of these teenagers 40% of them had consumed at least a full serve in that time.
The drinking age should be lowered to 16, the parents should get to choose how young or old their child is going to be when they start drinking as long it is a reasonable age and they are responsible for anything that could happen. The parents know when the child is mature enough to start drinking and take on the responsibility, and as parents they know how well their child can cope with alcohol and whether the child should be drinking at whatever age they are. If the drinking age is lowered to 16 the children will have more freedom and be more mature.
If the teens think that they can get the laws to change for drinking at the age of 16, they will think that they can bend all the rules like having drugs and stealing things. I can just imagine a teen getting caught for stealing and saying to the shop keeper: “why can’t I steal? It’s not fair all the rules are being changed and this one hasn’t, I thought it was changed let me go just this once!”
If the 16 year olds are allowed to drink there will be fewer accidents by the time they get to have their full licence or P’s as they would have more experience with alcohol and know what it can do to you. At the moment when children turn 18 and they can start drinking they can easily be killed from drink driving if they