http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-wants-to-lift-legal-drinking-age-20100208-nnh8.html

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he'd personally like to see the legal drinking
age lifted to 21 years.

But there would have to be rigorous debate and evidence that the policy could
reduce binge drinking before the government would consider it, he says.

"If the evidence is there and it is capable of being proven that it works, then
we (will) look at these things and make a decision," Mr Rudd said, when quizzed
on ABC Television's Q&A program on Monday night.

Mr Rudd told the audience, including 200 high school students, that booze, like
alcopops, was a concerning factor in P-Plate driving deaths.

"(The) drinking rates of young teenagers (is) going through the roof ... and
hugely affecting their ability to, frankly, manoeuvre a car."

He stopped short of calling for a federal intervention, but said "a whole lot of
work" was needed to address the alarming road toll.

The federal government was working to regulate car safety standards across the
states, and automatic systems in cars for better handling, he added.