Health, community orgs call for CLP to walk back plans to repeal minimum alcohol floor price
Cheap wine could soon return to Territory shelves. Here’s why a group of health and community organisations say that must not happen.
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A group of community, health, research and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations have renewed calls for the Northern Territory government to walk back its plan to scrap the alcohol floor price.
On Thursday the government introduced legislation to repeal the minimum unit price (MUP), which serves to effectively ban cheap cask wine in the Territory.
Critics argued allowing “alcohol that’s cheaper than water” to return to shelves would lead to a spike in alcohol-fuelled violence and harm, as problem drinkers could access more standard drinks for the same amount of money.
Cassandra Wright, program lead of Alcohol and other Drugs at Menzies School of Health Research said pricing policies were an essential part of a government’s toolkit to reduce rates of alcohol harm.
“Dismantling any effective alcohol policy in the context of the magnitude of harms we experience is completely unacceptable,” Dr Wright said.
“Researchers and health professionals from the NT are backed by leading scientists around the world in urging the government to retain a floor price on alcohol as a commonsense measure with demonstrated benefits.”
Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT chief executive John Paterson said removing the MUP defied the advice of the Territory coroner, who this week released findings from a landmark inquest into domestic violence.
“The (coroner’s) report included two explicit recommendations on alcohol, including for an evidence-based alcohol strategy to reduce alcohol availability to reduce domestic, family and sexual violence,” Dr Paterson said.
“We are asking the NT Government to reconsider its proposal to change these crucial policies, and give us the opportunity to have a say on any changes that will significantly impact our community.”
Association of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies NT, the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, and Flinders University Professor James Smith also spoke out in support of the MUP.
Territory Labor said removing the floor price was “disgraceful”.
“We know what will happen when the CLP scraps this very important alcohol harm reduction policy and measure,” Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said.
“We’ve seen it before, cheap, easy and accessible grog across our communities will only fuel more and more alcohol harm.”
The MUP was introduced in 2018.
A 2022 government-commissioned review was lukewarm on the policy, stating longer term data was needed.
It found the floor price led to a small reduction in total alcohol consumption, as drinkers shifted from cask wine to spirits.
There was a reduction in alcohol related harms, but not one that could be directly attributed to the policy, particularly with the Covid pandemic colouring the statistics.
The review found no evidence of a negative impact on industry or the economy.
Hospitality Minister Marie-Clare Boothby said scrapping the MUP was part of the CLP’s plan to reduce the cost of living, support communities, and rebuild the economy.
“The floor price punishes the majority, for the actions of a few, who are forced to pay higher prices at bottle shops while seeing no reduction in alcohol-related harm in their community,” she said.
“Repealing it aligns with real life evidence, community-driven solutions rather than ideological, untested policies by the former Labor government.”
Ms Boothby said it was a blunt, ineffective tool that failed to address the complexity of alcohol-related harm in the Territory.
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