A teenager has died in a Perth hospital after unwittingly consuming a drink containing methanol in Indonesia.

Liam Davies, 19, became sick after a new year celebration with friends on Lombok, near Bali.He was flown back to Perth several days ago on the advice of doctors, but they were unable to save him.Family members have described him as a fun-loving and active teenager, who had represented Australia in lacrosse and had dreams of seeing the world.They issued a statement on Friday warning others about the dangers of consuming locally-brewed alcohol in overseas countries when the quality could not be determined.There has been a growing number of cases of methanol poisoning in Indonesia.

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Ben Eltham You may not have noticed it, but a debate about arts and cultural policy is slowly starting to develop during this election campaign.Believe or not, it all started with Peter Garrett.True, the federal Arts Minister has not been seen much lately. To date, he has made no arts policy announcements. But, back in 2009, he did kick off a debate by calling for submissions for a new National Cultural Policy. The policy consultation process took 120 submissions. It also stimulated a fresh discussion about the sort of arts and cultural priorities and policies Australia should be aiming for.One of the things people do when they are asked to make submissions on a new policy direction is to examine the status quo. And that's where things started to get interesting. Because the more you look at Australia's existing arts and cultural policies, the less sense they make.