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Issue Addressed: Australian surveys indicate that a large proportion of packaged liquor outlets do not check identification for young people before selling alcohol to them. There are a substantial number of presentations to Emergency Departments from young people aged 15 to 17 years. This subgroup is second only to those aged 18 to 24 years. In the 15- to 17-year-old age group, supply from direct purchase or underage friends, who have purchased alcohol, represents substantial sources of alcohol that is more likely to be consumed without parental supervision.Method: Teenagers 18-19 years of age approached a randomly selected sample of bottle shops, on the NSW Central Coast Region, to attempt to purchase alcohol without producing identification (ID). Legally we are unable to test with teens under the age of 18. If outlets do not check ID for customers 18 or 19 years of age, we propose they might not check identification for 15- to 17-year-olds. A raft of local interventions was employed over four-survey periods to attempt to reduce selling rates.Results: The lowest alcohol sales without ID occurred in 2015 when NSW Liquor and Gaming successfully prosecuted a Central Coast outlet for an underage sale. The rate of alcohol sales without checking ID each year was as follows: 2012-43.8%, 2014-37.55%, 2015-21.5% and 2016-45%.Conclusion: Alcohol sales to young customers without checking ID are common, widespread and seemingly resistant to nonpunitive interventions. The NSW Liquor Act could be modified to allow compliance testing and much more practical enforcement. While Central Coast bottle shops have a better record than other Australian areas showing some improvements with our nonpunitive industry education interventions, the results need to improve substantially to stifle primary supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Geological logging by mine and exploration geologists involves the application of a classification code that requires a geologist to make a subjective decision to classify a particular rock unit (e.g. rock type, alteration intensity, mineralisation content). Where multiple geologists carry out logging this approach will most likely result in inconsistencies that are difficult to monitor or assess over time. A potential solution to this problem is to have a method to determine the nature of a given sample based on a set of fixed and quantifiable parameters. Plutonic Gold Mine (Plutonic), in Western Australia, has a growing dataset of more than 150 000 portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) multi-element analyses from core and underground face samples, reconciled to Au fire-assay concentration, and logging codes. This study analyses and validates the consistency with which Plutonic's logging codes have been applied from 2009 to 2013. In doing so, we have developed a schema that allows objective logging by utilising elemental data from pXRF analyses to allocate a mineralisation code. A K/V ratio is used to determine the degree of alteration, while As+12Cu concentrations are used to determine how sulphide-rich a sample is. Thresholds were defined to maintain consistency with pre-existing logged dataset. While far from replacing the geologist, this method is complementary that adds significant value to a dataset. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To examine the impact of enforcement of age-restricted tobacco sales on adolescent tobacco purchasing and smoking, we compared the Central Coast intervention area to the rest of New South Wales (NSW) and Australia. We collected data on students in school years 7–12 from triennial health surveys at baseline in 1993 through 2002. Attempts by minors to purchase tobacco in the intervention area declined by 73.6 per cent between 1993 and 2002. Between 1993 and 1996 the prevalence of smoking declined in the Central Coast intervention area, while remaining unchanged in NSW as a whole and nationally (P<0.0001). Between 1993 and 2002, the prevalence of current smoking in the intervention area was reduced by half. Effective enforcement of an age-restricted tobacco sales law was accompanied by a substantial reduction in attempted purchases of tobacco and of smoking by youth. The long-term follow-up in this study allows us to observe that the impact of the intervention was not only sustained but also increased with time.Journal of Public Health Policy (2009) 30, 68–82. doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.44 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]