Mornington Island booze ban to be scrapped due to home brew scourge

Alcohol could be sold on strife-torn Mornington Island again after a booze ban created more problems than it solved.

Alcohol could be sold on Mornington Island again in a bid to reduce the deadly prevalence of home brew, following a long-running campaign by the local council.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the State Government is seriously considering the reintroduction, that would allow moderated sales from a tavern in the Gulf of Carpentaria community.

Environment Minister and ministerial champion for the island, Meaghan Scanlon, visited the remote Indigenous community this week following harrowing stories of overcrowding in homes, high unemployment and shocking health statistics in this newspaper in May.

Following intensive discussions with the Mornington Shire Council, and seeing first-hand the issues affecting the community, the State Government is also poised to commit to an audit of taxpayer-funded services to determine whether the millions of dollars being spent were achieving the desired outcomes.

The Courier-Mail accompanied Ms Scanlon on her first visit to the island.

Assistant Minister Lance McCallum, Queensland Health director-general John Wakefield and other government officials also visited this week, and heard Mayor Kyle Yanner make the heartbreaking admission that he was now “immune to death”.

He said 19 locals had died for various reasons last year.

“We grieve on a regular basis,” Cr Yanner told leaders while at the local cemetery where there are many graves for people under the age of 50.

“I’m out of tears.”

Mornington Island health worker Helen Moon in the township's cemetery. Picture: Brian Cassey

The Mayor, who lost three brothers in a year, said residents were drinking their lives away.

“Until we get this law scrapped, which is discriminatory of its own, we’re going nowhere,” he said.

By making it legal, only selling mid-strength alcohol and moderating the amount sold, the council believes less home brew would be consumed.

In a bid to kerb its prevalence, the local grocery store has restricted the sale of sugar – allowing only two packets per person, each day.

Councillor David Barnes said the “myth” of a dry community needed to be exposed and expunged.

“Prohibition has become part of the problem,” he said.

“It hasn’t led to a community that is healthier.”

Cr Barnes said while there were no AA meetings on the island, he hoped to be running some soon.

Ms Scanlon told The Courier-Mailwhile the alcohol ban, which was introduced about a decade ago, had good intentions, there were “clearly” some adverse side effects.

“It is complex though,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s an easy fix and so we do need to consider it with everything in mind, but very clearly we’ve heard some very strong views … from the community around things needing to change.”

Zachariah Peters, 16, has consumed the dangerous 'home brew'. Picture: Brian Cassey

While there is no timeline, the Minister said the council had submitted a “really good” community safety plan.

The council has also put forward a raft of ideas, including a market garden, to help improve social and health outcomes on the island.

Locals are currently paying upwards of $500 for a trolley of goods – a perennial issue that’s caused by exorbitant freight costs.

Ms Scanlon said the garden was something the State Government was also seriously considering but said it required planning to ensure its longevity as the island had previously had one.

She said it was important for locals to be provided fresh food that was both affordable and accessible.

The Minister revealed discussions had started about a government services audit to “make sure that they’re actually being delivered based on what the community wants”.

The audit would look at both state and federal services. Conceding there was a “blockage” in the bureaucracy, Ms Scanlon said she was determined to work through that.

Asked how the blockage could be broken down, the Minister pointed to the government’s ministerial champions program and the voices this brought to the table.

Mornington Island children as young as under 10 have consumed and become victims of the dangerous 'home brew'. Picture: Brian Cassey

“I don’t think it’s fair to ­expect that mayors and councils and communities should have to travel down to Brisbane or to Canberra to advocate on basic issues,” she said.

The Minister said it was incredibly heartbreaking to hear Cr Yanner divulge that he had run out of tears.

“There are some big challenges, I mean the Mayor has talked about the issues around overcrowding, talked about the fact that the age of people, the death rate … is still unacceptable and so there’s some really sobering moments of this trip that make you realise the big things that we need to do to try and close the gap,” she said.

“That’s not an issue that’s isolated to Mornington Island.”

The Mayor said it had been a productive visit and that he was confident change would come. But he said he knew it was a process which could take time.

“We’re gaining trust in each other (government and council) and we’re building a close relationship I believe, a friendship,” he said.

“I do believe that it (the visit) has been productive.”

Mr Yanner said his priorities were with the people of Mornington Island.

“I won’t stop until I get this place better … I want to see happy people walking around with smiles on their dials,” he said.

Ms Scanlon said she would be back, and that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was keen to visit.

“We don’t want this to be a one-off trip,” she said.

“We want to make sure that we’re continually updating the community.

“It would be good for her (the Premier) to come to Mornington and see some of the investment too.”

Former councillor Annie Chong at the Kuba Natha Aged Care Hostel. Picture: Brian Cassey

SCOURGE HITTING PEOPLE YOUNGER

People being diagnosed with diabetes on Mornington Island are getting “younger and younger”, health worker Helen Moon has revealed.

The local resident, who has lived on the island her whole life, said she believed the prevalence of diabetes had worsened since the pub closed about 10 years ago.

“Since they’ve introduced the home brew they’re younger and younger diabetics,” she said.

“We’re talking about in their 20s, even younger.”

Ms Moon said people were also dying much younger. Her 29-year-old stepson died unexpectedly from a heart attack two years ago, while she also recently lost three cousins in the space of a year.

The four men all lived on Mornington Island.

“In our days it was just all old people (dying) and it was from natural causes,” she said.

The 50-year-old health worker, who has worked in health since she was 16, said she wanted the government to allow the sale of moderated alcohol to help curb the prevalence of home brew in the community.

“I do (want alcohol permitted),” she said.

“I think people will be more responsible (with) their health.”

Ms Moon said children as young as 10 were consuming it.

“It’s what they’re seeing, they’re repeating,” she said.

“Younger kids – they think it’s OK but it’s not.”

Meanwhile elder Annie Chong, a former councillor who designed the island’s aged care home, said she ate well and had always worked hard when asked how she had led a healthy life.

She said it was important for people to help and understand each other. Zach Peters, 16, said it was important for young people to eat healthily.

Veronica Barnes, 5, is growing up in an environment where children as young as under 10 are using the deadly ‘home brew’. Picture: Brian Cassey