Take a look around your local railway station, park, beach or city centre on any Friday or Saturday night and you'll see exactly what we mean.

It's likely you'll see children as young as 12 or 13 getting smashed on beer, spirits, wine and alcopops.

Alarmingly, much of it is being supplied by their parents or another irresponsible adult who thinks it's okay to give teenagers alcohol for a night out or even the Year 10 school formal after-party.

A recent secondary school alcohol survey tells us as much and reports that 38 per cent of Year 7-12 students obtained their last alcohol drink from their parents.

So bad is the problem that National Health and Medical Research Council statistics reveal that alcohol accounts for 13 per cent of all deaths among 14-to-17-year-old Australians, and one Australian teenager dies and more than 60 are hospitalised each week from alcohol-related causes.

But the practice of supplying alcohol to minors is about to come under intense scrutiny after the announcement yesterday that Wollongong University Professor Sandra Jones and her team have been granted $931,000 in funding to tackle under-age drinking.

It is a timely boost and will, says Prof Jones, bring the problem into the spotlight and empower parents pressured to supply their children alcohol.

If Prof Jones' work saves one life and helps arrest the growing trend of teenage alcohol abuse, it will be money well spent.