CLP election promises: What the new Northern Territory government promised to deliver
The government has confirmed it will scrap alcohol floor prices, despite experts warning it could lead to a spike in problem drinking. Big or small, welcome or controversial – here is what the CLP has promised Territorians.
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The government has confirmed it will scrap alcohol floor prices in the Territory, despite experts warning it could lead to a spike in problem drinking.
Newly installed Alcohol Policy Minister Steve Edgington said the benefit of floor prices was unclear, and he was instead focused on delivering alcohol management plans for Aboriginal communities.
“What I’ve seen experienced in my communities is the floor price doesn’t appear to have had any major effect. In fact, what it has done is increased the price of alcohol in the communities,” Mr Edgington said.
“We want to reduce the harm being caused by alcohol through alcohol management.
“It was back in 2017 that the Riley review recommended alcohol management plans be established. Here we are, seven years down the track, and a lot of that work still hasn’t been done.”
Mr Edgington said it was “too early to say” whether the government would allow alcohol to return to town camps under approved plans.
He also said the Banned Drinker Register would be “revisited”.
The current $1.30 per unit floor price was introduced following the Riley review into Northern Territory alcohol policies.
The report recommended a minimum price for all alcohol at $1.50 per standard drink, aimed at preventing problem drinkers from accessing large quantities of cheap grog, such as cask wine.
Groups including the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition have called on the CLP to keep the floor price, warning “all credible research” showed its removal would “see more people drunk, more often”.
The controversial alcohol policy change was one of many promises made by CLP ahead of its landslide election win last month.
Pledges to return use of spithoods in youth detention and to lower the age of criminal responsibility have also grabbed national attention since the change of government.
The Children’s Commissioner wrote to the Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro urging her to “seek advice on the potential implications” of the proposed reforms.
“I acknowledge there is serious concern across our community regarding crime and community safety,” Commissioner Shahleena Musk said.
“However, this does not permit the use of ineffective youth justice responses that will cause further harm to children and more likely reinforce the very behaviours we are seeking to change.
“The human rights of children must be respected … irrespective of whether these devices are called spit hoods or spit guards, they are proven to cause irreparable harm and must not be used on children.”
Mrs Finocchiaro said her government had been given a “mandate for change” by voters, and would deliver on reducing crime, unlocking the economy and restoring the Territory lifestyle.
She said a raft of community safety reforms would be introduced on urgency week one of parliament, including Declan’s Law, a signature policy piece tightening bail laws across a range of offences.
ALL THE CLP’S ELECTION PROMISES
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HEALTH
- Make the meningococcal B vaccine free
- Split health delivery into Top End and Central Australia services
- Increased and mandatory alcohol rehabilitation programs
- Improving and expanding aged care facilities through “increased business confidence and federal partnerships”
- Build a new $20m health centre in Borroloola
- Give pharmacists new powers to treat patients for an extra 21 conditions
SPORT
- $500,000 a year to NT Cricket to boost Indigenous and female participation in the sport
- Free swimming lessons for primary school students
- $1m for lights at Norbuilt Oval
- $15m multi-sports precinct in Alice Springs
EDUCATION
- Move teachers off short term contracts into permanent places
- Expand school-based policing
- Ensure qualified school counsellors are based in schools and properly resourced
- Reinstate truancy officers
- Hold parents accountable if their kids skip school, including the possibility of fines, prosecution and income management.
- Increase access to special education for students with a disability
LIFESTYLE
- Retain rights to own crocs as pets
- More opportunities for land-based fishing
- Improve accessibility at boat ramps
- Phase out gillnet fishing over the next four years
- Trial a barramundi stocking program in Darwin Harbour
- $500,000 on upgrading the Corroboree and East Arm boat ramps
- No boat registration, no boat licensing, no fishing licensing
- Expand hunting reserves
- $50,000 grant program for hunting groups
- Lock in Waterfowl daily bag limits and review the Magpie Goose Management Plan
- Lock hunting season opening and closing dates
- Ensure ammunition is available to communities
- $5m multicultural centre in Alice Springs
- $1m on improving existing multicultural facilities in the Territory
CRIME & POLICE
- Introduce Declan’s Law to tighten bail laws
- Lower the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10
- Make ‘posting and boasting’ on social media an aggravated offence
- Introduce ram raid legislation
- Enforce minimum mandatory sentencing for assaults on workers
- Reform internal police disciplinary system
- Retention bonus for police
CORRECTIONS
- Two new purpose-built women’s prisons in Alice Springs and Darwin
- $10 million for two new adult prisoner work camps
- A New Work in the Community Home Detention program
- $5 million Sentenced to a Skill program
- Create a stand-alone Corrections agency and move Youth Justice out of Territory Families
- Return use of spit hoods
- Boost Sentenced to a Job program
- Compulsory community service for youth offenders
- Two Youth Boot Camps located in Darwin and Alice Springs
- A commitment that all future prisons will be built at Holtze
ALCOHOL
- Give police powers to fine, charge and arrest people for drinking in public
- Reinstate rules making it illegal to drink within 2km of a licensed premises
- Remove minimum alcohol floor price
- Invest in community drug and alcohol services
- Reinstate compulsory alcohol, drug and behavioural change rehabilitation for related offences for sentences more than three months
TOURISM
- $3m to boost military history tourism
- Expand the Territory Tourism Discount Scheme
ECONOMY
- HomeGrown Territory Grant: $50,000 to first home builders and $10,000 for first home buyers
- Increase payroll tax threshold from $1.5m to $2.5m
- Slash all approval time frames across government by 50 per cent
- No asset sales
- No austerity measures
- No job cuts in the public service
- Reinstate an Asian Relations and Trade Minister
- Simplify the hybrid mining tax
- Lobby the federal government to increase the zone tax offset, expand the designated area migration agreement, and change migration rules to allow NT businesses to hire more foreign skilled workers
- Fast-track the conversion of vacant commercial CBD buildings into student accommodation
- Establish the Office of Territory Coordinator
- Grow mining, gas, defence, tourism and agriculture industries
ENVIRONMENT
- Release details of gas deal with Tamboran “if they can”
- 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030
- 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030
- Net zero emissions by 2050
- Continue funding Aboriginal ranger programs $12m over the next four years
- Invest in recycled and grey water alternatives
- Expand the Living Water Smart Program
- More funding to community groups, Aboriginal rangers and local councils to reduce Gamba grass
- Defund the Environmental Defenders Office
INDIGENOUS
- Expand the number of local councils
- Scrap Treaty
- Build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia
COST OF LIVING
- Raise the solar battery bonus to $12,000 and double the feed-in tariff at peak times
- Freeze car registration fee increases for 12 months
- Free driver’s licences for a year
- No park entry fees for locals
- Refurbish vacant public assets to reduce housing wait times
INTEGRITY
- Comply with FOI requests
- Resource the ICAC
- Divest all shares and declare conflicts
- Establish a lobbyist register
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
- $180m over five years to combat DV
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