Now that I have lived as an expat for a total of 1 year 8 months in two countries (Cambodia and Kuwait), it's time to reflect on the country I come from. Part 1 of this two part series was about the genocide of Australian Aboriginals. Part 2 is about alcohol driven violence among Australia's youth, the cause of a few deaths during 2013/14 new year celebrations. 
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The 2013/14 new year celebrations were marred by deaths of some young Australian men. They died due to being hit by other drunken young men. These acts are being branded as 'coward punches' in a social shift to stigmatise alcohol driven violence. 

Here are the news stories I collected in researching this piece:

• No Country for Young Men: Notions of Gender Must Evolve 
• Push to refer to king hit attacks as 'coward punches' after teen left in coma
  
• Redditor shares their experience as a victim of a 'coward punch'
• Australia has culture encouraging extremes of drinking and violence, says criminologist
• New Year's Eve coward punch victim Daniel Christie has his life support turned off
• Medical staff speak out about emotional strain of treating victims of alcohol-fuelled violence
  

In contrast to this slew of horror stories, no alcohol driven violence, let alone deaths, were reported in Kuwait for the corresponding period. What is going on in the 'Lucky Country'? The land of sunshine, happiness and general modernity in all forms that is supposed to be Australia? What is this but a straightforward expression of backwardness and savageness? How can I expect others to view me as coming from a civilised country when Australian society is so obviously showing signs of failing to display moderation in its consumption of the drug generically known as alcohol? How embarrassing to see that I come from a culture where there is insufficient control and stigmatisation of drinking this drug - indeed where companies selling it are able to control politicians so that laws, ultimately aimed at stopping such pointless deaths, are not enacted? 
 
That the profits of companies selling this addictive drug called alcohol are effectively allowed to take precedence over the lives of victims of their marketing campaigns is simply a shameful indictment of the regulatory capabilities of the Australian government. Last year a plain packaging law for cigarettes was implemented during the first Australian government lead by a woman, Julia Gillard. This was one of many wonderful reforms she lead. Until the same plain packaging law is implemented for alcohol products I will consider my government to be showing a psychopathic, a callous, disregard for the lives of the young men it claims to represent.

Yes, there is individual responsibility. Yes, there is the influence of parents and peers. Yes I agree that a nanny state is a bad thing. But there is no excuse for a culture of excessive drinking which unnecessarily overwhelms our health services every weekend. 

Then again, and now it's my turn to sound like a savage, Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest is one of my favourites. Do we really want to run a society which is on the wrong side of fitness when it comes to consuming one of the planet's oldest drugs? Do we want to suffer the embarrassment of managing its consumption so appallingly badly that it is almost routine that deaths amongst youth occur during national celebrations about something which is supposed to be filled with joy and hope, like the new year?

In Kuwait, alcohol is banned. Another thing we Australians do routinely is consider ourselves as having a better, more fun culture than theirs. Would Kuwaitis disagree? I should ask them. What I can say though is I'm glad I've stopped drinking every weekend since coming here. If I were to make it, I believe this would increase the validity of my claiming to be a civilised person. I stop short of issuing a general positive assessment of Kuwaiti society - all societies have their shortcomings. Kuwaitis should be happy though that their young males don't suffer the possibility of being killed by some drunken man out to drop people with one punch because his culture has somehow delivered to him the message that this is ok.