Why Federal government let Alice Springs alcohol ban expire

The reason the Morrison government let alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs expire has been uncovered, with the NT government now in the spotlight.

Alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs were originally allowed to expire by the Morrison government because the Northern Territory had promised to replace them with equivalent measures.

But the opt-in measures ultimately adopted by the NT when the Commonwealth laws lapsed resulted in a flood of alcohol into Central Australian areas that had been dry for more than a decade.

The former federal government went into caretaker mode ahead of last year’s election with assurances from NT it would implement its own version of the Commonwealth’s Stronger Futures Northern Territory (SFNT) alcohol restrictions, a letter from March 2022 shows.

When the legislation expired on July 17, the NT implemented a system that allowed the town camps and smaller Indigenous communities to “opt-in” if they wanted to remain dry.

The NT government ultimately backflipped on its decision and reintroduced bans in January following intense local and national public pressure, as well as a private push from the now-Labor federal government.

Ken Wyatt had the NT government keen to keep going with the tight laws. Picture: Colin Murty

In the letter sent to NT Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo, former Coalition Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt welcomed and acknowledged the NT’s “commitment” to introduce its own Stronger Futures-style laws once the federal version “sunset” in July last year.

“I thank you and your government’s commitment to … allow equivariant SFNT Act alcohol management measure in NT legislation,” Mr Wyatt said in March 2022.

He also thanked the NT for agreeing to work toward an agreement where $7.5 million of funding offered by the Commonwealth be provided to the NT Government to establish a “stores licensing regimen”.

But between this exchange and when Labor won the federal election and current Australian Minister Linda Burney took office in June, the NT government’s proposal was watered down to opt-in bans.

Minister for Indigenous Australian Linda Burney is now in the hot seat. (Photo by Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

It is understood Ms Burney made multiple representations to the NT government about the need to bridge the gap once federal laws had lapsed.

The alcohol bans were implemented in 2007 under the Howard government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response, also known as the Intervention.

They were later renamed Stronger Futures Act and continued under every government until 2022.