New Zealand nurses are at the coalface of the country’s "disastrous drinking culture", according to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation.

The NZNO has called on the government to get tough on alcohol abuse in its submission to the Alcohol Reform Bill at the Justice and Electoral Select Committee.

In its submission to MPs on the bill, which is targeting a rise in youth drinking, the organisation said nurses deal directly with the harm caused by alcohol abuse "from lead maternity carers caring for pregnant women who poison their babies with alcohol to mental health and prison nurses who cope with alcohol-induced violence…"

It also said family planning nurses were affected "who deal with unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, to emergency nurses who have to re-prioritise the care of other sick people to deal with victims of drunk driving, alcohol-fuelled violence or those suffering alcohol poisoning".

The organisation joined Maori nurses, emergency and mental health nurses to campaign for more action, stating the current bill would do little to change the harmful epidemic caused by alcohol abuse.

In its submission, the NZNO called for protections that would be put in place for any other epidemic such as "prevention through limiting access to alcohol; protection for the most vulnerable, especially children; education to change attitudes; and timely intervention and treatment".

The organisation stated it was vital the problem was treated as a health issue and has lobbied for the price and purchase age of alcohol to be raised.

Te Runanga o Aotearoa NZNOKhoikhoi Kerri Nuku told the select committee alcohol hashad a destructive impact on the health of Maori sinceEuropeans first introduced it in the early 1800s.

"Alcohol has disrupted Maori cultural norms, values and traditions and Maori continue to experience disproportionate harm from alcohol," she said.

"Maori are four times more likely than non-Maori to die from an alcohol-related condition."