Boat drinking laws will stretch cops ‘even thinner’

THE NT Police Association has raised concerns already stretched resources may be spread even thinner with the introduction of the Territory Government’s proposed drink-boating reforms

THE Police Association has raised concerns already stretched resources may be spread even thinner by drink-boating reforms.

THE NT Police Association has raised concerns already stretched resources may be spread even thinner with the introduction of the Territory Government’s proposed drink-boating reforms.

The government does not yet have a blueprint for how the laws will be enforced and will instead consult with the NT Seafood Council, AFANT and NT Guided Fishing Association before ironing out the details.

NTPA president Paul McCue said he would use that process to emphasise resourcing issues and officer safety.

“Obviously there are concerns around how police are going to be able to undertake the testing, we want to make sure that it’s a safe environment for police as well as everyone else,” he said.

“We don’t want to see, of course, police at risk trying to undertake the testing of what’s going to be introduced so we’ll be certainly talking to the government and the commissioner (about that),” he said.

He said while he agreed it was “probably time” the Territory cracked down on drink-boating, he also said: “the reality is there’s only so many police to go around and the more duties you give them the less they can do”.

“We need to see the operational requirements that police will be undertaking in relation to this so once we see that we’ll have a better idea of the resourcing requirements but of course, from our point of view, any time you add an extra duty to the police you’ve got to make sure we’ve got enough police to do that,” he said.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the rules were aimed at cultural change rather than securing convictions.

“This is mostly about changing culture and saying ‘we want to make sure if you’re behind the wheel or behind the tiller you are operating that in a safe way’,” he said.

He said it was unlikely police would breathalyse boaties on the water. Breath testing would likely happen at boat ramps, he said.

Attorney-General Natasha Fyles has said drunk boaties would likely be fined, rather than lose demerit points on their car licences.