Alcohol consumption on Australian Antarctic stations will be ­almost halved with home brewing banned under a new wellness policy.

Based on government health guidelines of no more than 10 standard drinks a week, The Australian Antarctic Division’s new drug and alcohol policy is set to apply from next summer.

The Australian Antarctic Division’s Director Kim Ellis said similar operations such as mining, offshore oil and gas or defence have adopted similar policies.

“Alcohol is always a complex and challenging issue in Antarctica,” he told Scott Emerson.

He said when he first went to Antarctica in the 1970s, there was a lot of alcohol and it was available largely in an “uncontrolled way”.

He hastened to add it wasn’t a prohibition.

“As part of a wellness program we have said, you can have alcohol down there we give the station leaders an allowance as well for big events … but in order to get better controls … we are saying home brew has to end and we have to tweak those alcohol levels to make sure we match what the government recommends.”

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