The Australian federal government is being called on to enforce intervention-era alcohol restrictions in the Northern Territory with Country Liberal Senator Jacinta Price calling the current ban a “half-baked policy.”
Price, an Indigenous senator, sought bipartisan support for her Northern Territory Safe Measures Bill 2023, which will establish a federal and territory government partnership to address alcohol-related harm.
Some measures include developing alcohol management plans and a legal framework for prosecution.
“Senators, I plead with you to help me save the lives of those I love and those I’m democratically elected to represent and whose lives we are all responsible for,” she told Parliament on Feb. 8.
“If we can save one woman from becoming the next domestic violence or homicide statistic, we are winning. If we can prevent one child from being sexually abused and left with a venereal disease or internal physical and psychological scarring for life, that is one child. But I know we can do better than this.”
Price Recalls Personal Experience
Price told the Parliament about her experience witnessing numerous horrific incidents take place within her family and community as a result of alcohol abuse. She cried when speaking about how her cousin died in a car crash because the driver’s drunken husband “punched her in the back of her head while she was driving.”
Price added, “our family remember all too clearly the horrific conditions in town camps before alcohol restrictions.”
“So I could understand when my 42-year-old cousin told me on Christmas Day that she was at peace and happy to say goodbye to the world of the living.”
“I could not be angry at her for wanting to leave us all behind. Life in her town camp had become absolutely unbearable again with alcohol flowing back in.”
The bill is considered a carbon copy of the Howard-era intervention law that came into effect in 2012 and was ceased in 2022. Price noted that the lifting of the law has resulted in “increased rates of crime, alcohol-related domestic violence, and alcohol-related assaults.”
Alcohol-related assaults in Alice Springs alone have risen from December 2021 to December 2022 by 54.6 percent, and property damage has increased by 59.6 percent.
NT Labor Government Accused of Acting Too Slowly
Price’s bill was tabled only days after the centre-left NT government announced it would reinstate alcohol bans in the central Australian town of Alice Springs and remote communities experiencing a surge of violent youth crime over the past year.
This was despite Chief Minister Natasha Fyles previously resisting calls for such a move saying she did not want to have “race-based policy that disempowers Aboriginal Territorians.”
Price told Parliament that despite cries from vulnerable community members, the NT government responded with “neglect and inaction, all justified by accusations that alcohol restrictions were nothing more than race-based policies.”
The outspoken senator alleged it was not until Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was criticised by Sydney-based radio program 2GB for his lack of urgency in dealing with the crime crisis that he was prompted to visit Alice Springs, which has a large population of Aboriginal Australians.
“[It] has now resulted in Chief Minister Natasha Fyles having to take back her race-baiting words and backflip on her vehemently held position, forcing her to create half-baked policy on the run.”
Fyles Accused Price Of Not Consulting The NT Govt
In response, Chief Minister Fyles wrote a letter saying the senator had not consulted with the Territory Labor government.
“I’m sure we can both agree that it is most appropriate to allow for the Northern Territory to legislate for itself in the NT Legislative Assembly, and not in Canberra, where the majority of voices in such a debate will have limited experience or understanding of our community,” the letter, sent on Feb. 8, read.
“It is evident that this approach has failed previously and does not empower communities to be involved in decision-making or implementing actions to reduce harm.”
Price later disputed this, saying she had written to Fyles in October to outline her proposal and consulted with relevant stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Labor Senator Karen Grogan said she empathised with Price, describing the Coalition senator’s experience as “horrendous,” but also saying she disagreed with her approach.“Interfering in people’s lives, leaping in from a great height to tell people how to live their lives—it’s not the answer. It might help you with some symptoms along the way for a short time, but it’s not the answer. The answer is to understand the problem and to talk with the local community.”
Liberal Party Senator Matt O'Sullivan backed the bill, however, saying it’s “a long time in the making.”
“Enough is enough. We’ve got to have real action to tackle some of these issues.”
