Grog ban to be lifted as trouble may be brewing

THE decade-long restrictions on alcohol in Queensland’s Aboriginal communities are set to be relaxed in months.

Mornington Island elder Lillian Bush. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

THE decade-long restrictions on alcohol in Queensland’s Aboriginal communities are set to be relaxed in months, with indigenous councils pushing to open licensed clubs or introduce a “drinking permit’’ system.

More than 18 months after the Newman government launched a review of alcohol management plans, a majority of Queensland’s 19 indigenous communities are preparing cabinet submissions to lift the bans.

Only two communities — Auru­kun and Lockhart River, in Cape York — have so far indicated they will retain the alcohol bans, which were introduced by the Beattie government to stem spiralling violence and dysfunction. The remaining communities, which have either a total ban or restrictions on alcohol sales, are pushing for changes through the government review.

To win cabinet approval, local indigenous councils would have to develop alternative AMPs that ensure violence falls and school attendance rises.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Glen Elmes said yesterday he was convinced communities were ready to have the restrictions lifted.

Under existing AMPs, reported violence and hospitalisations have decreased significantly in many communities. Child abuse notifications have more than halved in parts of Cape York. But there has also been a growing problem with sly grogging — where bottles of liquor are sold for up to $300 a bottle — and the wide-scale use of home brews, which has caused sickness and death.

Mornington Island elder and former schoolteacher Lillian Bush, 74, said that, while alcohol restrictions stopped some violence, it heralded the beginning of home brewing, which was “poisoning” the community in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Ms Bush said change was needed, a call echoed by Mayor Bradley Wilson. But Lyndon Jack, who admitted he was the first on Mornington Island to start home-brewing, said lifting the ban on ­alcohol sales would do little.

“They will put a limit on it, so that you can buy a six-pack of mid-strength,’’ Mr Jack said. “But if you want more then you still have the home brew. It’s easy to make out in the mangroves.’’

Mr Wilson said the community was proposing the introduction of a “drinking licence’’ that would allow the purchase of mid-strength alcohol. He said Mornington Island, which was declared dry in 2003, had not been provided with adequate rehabilitation services after the AMPs were imposed. Since then, the community had been beset by home brewing, easily made from fruit juice and Vegemite.

“It is time we took control of the AMPs, and we want to do it the right way with support services,’’ he said.

Mr Elmes said a raft of councils were expected to lodge their plans in coming months for cabinet approval. He said he was convinced communities were ready to have restrictions lifted.

“As I have gone around and listened to the mayors, councillors and community justice groups, I’ve certainly come around to the view that even in dry communities a reintroduction of alcohol is probably not a bad thing,’’ Mr Elmes told The Australian.

“But it has to be controlled and cabinet will have to see that the figures that violence is going down, school attendance rates are going up.’’

Mr Elmes said that, despite council surveys showing up to 80 per cent support in communities for a lifting of the restrictions, there was still strong opposition, particularly among women. “I have sat down and talked to these women,’’ he said.

“They remember the rapes, they remember the bashings, they remember child abuse and there is no way in the world they want that back.’’

The opening of licensed “sports clubs’’, at which patrons are breathalysed before entering and can buy a limit of six mid-strength and three light cans using a digitalised card, is the preferred model of the government. Queensland Police last year warned against lifting the AMPs because of a fear of a spike in “violence, child abuse and officer burnout’’.