LIKE most Australians, I enjoy a drink on social occasions.

However, as a father and as a citizen, I'm appalled by the violent binge drinking culture that now seems so prevalent, especially at "hot spots" in our big cities.

I'm sick of the fact that alcohol-fuelled violence has turned places that should be entertainment precincts into "no-go zones".

Hospital emergency departments should not be overflowing with the victims of substance abuse every Friday and Saturday night. The media should not be full of stories about the latest casualties from our own streets.

THE SON I KNEW DIED AFTER HE WAS HIT

BASHING VICTIM'S FAMILY SPEAKS OUT

FURORE OVER COWARD-PUNCH CULTURE

BASHED TEENAGER AWAKENS FROM COMA

We've got two problems. The first problem is the binge drinking culture which has become all too prevalent among youngsters over the last couple of decades. I'm realistic enough to know that young people won't always be perfect and that making mistakes along the way is a normal part of growing up.

I certainly made a few mistakes as a younger man and have got into some embarrassing situations.

However, there's a world of difference between having two or three drinks a night and occasionally a bit more on a Saturday night and this new binge culture which sees young people drinking nothing from one week to the next and then, when they drink, not knowing when or how to stop.

The second problem is the rise of the disturbed individual who goes out looking not for a fight but for a victim.

We are seeing these king-hits, or coward punches as they are now being called. They are random acts of unprovoked, gratuitous violence.

Inevitably the target is an individual quietly getting on with life. This is a vicious, horrible change.

media_camera Sick of the cowardly drunken street violence ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott / Picture: AFP

Brutal people, often with a history of violence, are getting it into their heads to pick on a vulnerable individual. It is utterly cowardly. It's brutal, it's gratuitous, it's utterly unprovoked and it should be dealt with very severely by the police and the courts.

It is well known that as a university student I played rugby and boxed. Boxing taught me many things, including the power of a single punch. If there's danger from a single punch in a boxing ring, it is multiplied exponentially when it's delivered to an unsuspecting or unprepared victim on a concrete footpath, or in a crowded pub or club.

Tragically, it's not just one young life that is destroyed but many. In an instant, one person becomes a victim, another a criminal - and the lives of their families are irrevocably damaged.

As Prime Minister I accept that the fundamental responsibility in this area lies with state governments. It's not just Barry O'Farrell's problem, it's an issue that communities are facing in suburbs and regional centres across Australia.

While we all want to see the courts absolutely throw the book at people who perpetrate this kind of gratuitous, unprovoked violence, we have to recognise that courts can act only after a crime. The challenge for officialdom at every level, for the police, for pubs and clubs as well as for parents and young people is to tackle the binge drinking culture and the violent behaviour that is accompanying it.

We also have to identify if drugs like steroids are also contributing to this outbreak of violent behaviour. There is enough anecdotal evidence from police and our emergency rooms that what we are seeing is not fuelled by alcohol alone. Alcohol is consumed along with other drugs such as ice and other amphetamines.

We need to tackle this issue in a comprehensive and considered way. We don't need kneejerk reactions and stunts that give the illusion of action, but don't make any real, lasting difference.

We need community solutions between police, local government, pubs and clubs and residents. Some communities have already demonstrated that progress can be made and many pubs, clubs and alcohol providers have discovered it is better to solve a problem and be part of the solution, than have a solution imposed on them.

We have to approach this in a way that makes our streets safer. That means resisting the idea one single action will change everything; that one group is responsible for this problem or one politician has the answer or is the cause. While this is not an easy area, with much control in the hands of state and local governments, the Commonwealth stands ready to work with the states, parents and communities. to tackle this scourge.

Alcohol has and always will be part of life in our country - and most countries. Our challenge is to get the balance right.

VICTIM OF BRUTALITY STILL FEARS THE NIGHT Ashlee Mullany

THE man viciously assaulted by NRL star Russell Packer has pleaded with Sydney to "wake up to itself" and end the senseless alcohol-fuelled violence.

Enoka Time opened up yesterday for the first time about his painful physical and mental scars in the hope young men will realise one punch can destroy a life and that violence is "never OK".

"The community in Sydney really needs a wake-up call," the 22 year old said.

MAGISTRATE TEACHES NRL THUG RUSSELL PACKER A HARD LESSON

media_camera Enoka Time, bashed by NRL player, Russell Packer / Picture: Bradley Hunter

"They need to understand these assaults can change people's lives - not only the victim's life but everyone he's involved with, his family, his friends, his peers."

Packer was jailed for two years on Monday over the drunken attack in Sydney's CBD in November.

media_camera Enoka Time i hospital after being bashed / Picture: Supplied

He had pleaded guilty to punching Mr Time in the side of the head, knocking him over. While his victim lay motionless, Packer punched him again and stomped on his face.

Yesterday Mr Time said he recalled little of the assault but the incident haunted him every day.

"I don't know what filled him with that much anger to keep going while I was motionless, I can't understand that part."

The two-year jail term was "fair" given the price he has paid, Mr Time said.

media_camera Jailed ... thug NRL player Russell Packer.

"I was just relieved that someone finally stood up and made a statement to everyone that if you want to do this, this is what you're going to get," he said.

"The situation that night replays in my head nearly every day and I always try to come up with solutions about how I could have avoided that, but it all comes down to one conclusion - he just did it out of the blue.

"You can't justify what he did. It was over stupid cigarettes - it's just not worth it at all. He's probably regretting it now."

Mr Time is now fearful going out at night after the assault which left him with bleeding on his eye, two fractures to his face, cuts and hearing loss in one ear.

He could not work for several weeks and said the ordeal had been an emotional "rollercoaster" for him and his family.

Mr Time has thrown his support behind The Daily Telegraph's Enough campaign to cut alcohol-fuelled violence.

"I've seen a lot of violence and not one case that I've seen has solved anything," he said.

"If those guys know they get an aggressive buzz when they're drinking, they shouldn't be drinking at all.

"Be the good friend out of the group. There's always one guy in the group looking for trouble. Be the leader, show them the way.''

SHOCKING STATE OF COWARDLY ASSAULT

DRUNKEN assaults claim more victims in NSW than any other state, with a shocking total of 88,100 men and women reporting, over a year-long period, that their attackers - both strangers and those they knew - were affected by drugs or alcohol.

The data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics supports reports from paramedics that almost half of all attacks on men and 34 per cent of those on women come from complete strangers.

The figures from 2011-12 show 70 per cent were blamed on drugs or alcohol, higher than the national average of 59 per cent. It puts the state on a par with Western Australia and Tasmania, where more than 70 per cent of physical assaults by strangers are blamed on drugs or alcohol.

In Victoria, that figure is 62.9 per cent, in Queensland it is 67.5 per cent and 41.9 per cent in South Australia.

Comparable figures are not available for the Northern Territory or the ACT.

The new NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes yesterday spoke of his concern about the dangers of one-punch hits in his first week on the job.

"It's a terrible phenomenon, horrendous,' Mr Barnes told The Daily Telegraph.