Liquor Commission recommends new grog laws for Barkly in a bid to reduce alcohol-related harm

The NT Liquor Commission has recommended two proposed changes to the alcohol policy in the remote Barkly region.

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TAKEAWAY alcohol purchases in the Barkly will not be limited to three transactions per household per day and the Banned Drinker Register (BDR) will not extend to pubs, the independent alcohol regulatory body has announced.

The NT Liquor Commission has recommended two of four proposed changes to the alcohol policy in the remote Central Australia region, which were flagged in January.

The proposals followed a two-year review intended to reduce rising alcohol consumption in the area which was found to lead to alcohol-related violence.

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On May 28 the Commission released their findings after a month-long community consultation process, which include a variation of the licences by inserting the proposed CCTV surveillance condition and the proposed PALI condition.

The proposed household limit condition or on-premises BDR condition, which would have seen people needing to provide ID to buy a drink at the pub and was vigorously opposed by licensees and Hospitality NT, will not be implemented.

During a public hearing in February, Barkly Regional Council mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin adverted to practical difficulties and unfairness if the proposed household limit condition were to go ahead.

“Mayor McLaughlin also strongly complained that the current takeaway trading conditions

are unfair because: they force people to queue and be quizzed; they prevent people

from buying a mixture of drinks; they don’t permit shift workers to buy liquor,” the Commission report reads.

The surveillance condition ensures the licensee must operate a camera surveillance system, including a CCTV camera at the point of sale.

The report states the commission is satisfied that the establishment and maintenance of the PALI scheme – where a PALI has power to prevent the sale of takeaway liquor – “is of key importance in preventing alcohol-related harm in Tennant Creek from escalating”.

Possible future changes

Further future changes could include customers able to vary their purchases with different types of alcohol, with the current condition operating so as to limit customers to purchase either, for example, 24 cans of heavy beer or two bottles of wine equalling no more than 30 standard drinks per day.

The commission said they would make a request to the government to adjust the technology system used to monitor purchases of takeaway alcohol, and the changes wouldn’t go ahead until, or if, the system was updated.

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