Natasha Fyles backtracks on statement that the government’s new grog laws would not ‘affect the price of beer’ as bottle shops ramp up prices

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Natasha Fyles’s promise that the Labor government’s liquor floor price would not “affect the price of beer” has proven wrong

Grog laws championed by Attorney-General Natasha Fyles have seen beer prices increase by as much as 20 per cent.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Natasha Fyles’s promise that the Labor government’s liquor floor price would not “affect the price of beer” has proven wrong within the a week of the policy’s introduction.

The Labor government put laws into place at the start of the month setting a minimum price of $1.30 per standard drink, a figure which Ms Fyles told Mix 104.9 in August “doesn’t affect the price of beer” and was targeted at cheap wine.

Ms Fyles said while floor price was aimed at cheap booze, print advertisements indicated the increase would impact the price of beer.

“I’ve said that before as well,” she told media on Monday.

“We were aware that beer specials would be impacted.

Ms Fyles said the floor price impacted about 25 products in the Darwin area, and included a “minimal impact” on beer.

“This floor price is aimed at getting rid of that cheap booze that people use to get intoxicated and cause harm,” she said.

“It’s mainly those wines and fortified wines –but we have acknowledged that minimal impact on beer products, but that would be some beer products impacted on.”

Ms Fyles urged people who felt booze was being priced unfairly to report it to the ACCC.

“Territorians are sick of the alcohol fuelled crime and violence that we see in our communities every day,” she said.

Bottle shops across Darwin have over the past week increased the price of some of the most popular cartons of beer in some cases by 20 per cent.

One bottleshop in Darwin over the weekend put up signage apologising for not being able to honour a nationally advertised special, blaming the new laws.

The price rises have been most noticeable on cases of canned, mass-marked beer and from online outlets, which are banned from delivering grog to the Territory for less than the floor price.

Endeavour Drinks general manager Shane Tremble — whose company owns BWS outlets and is midway through negotiations to open a Dan Murphy’s warehouse near Darwin Airport — said the floor price’s most pronounced impact would be on the regular specials his company’s bottleshops offer.

Former Supreme Court chief justice Trevor Riley’s review of the Territory’s liquor laws originally recommended a floor price of $1.50 per standard drink, a figure which would have seen bottle shops the price of many cartons of beer increase by around $10.

The government accepted the recommendation for a floor price, but lowered it to $1.30 amid concerns of political backlash.

Opposition Leader Gary Higgins said if the floor price laws should be treated as a trial and scrapped if it saw no result.

Independent MLA Robyn Lambley wrote in the Sunday Territorian yesterday the Labor government was “hell bent on implementing broad brush alcohol restrictions”.