Blanket booze bans failed before, says Natasha Fyles

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s plan to effectively reintroduce the federal legislation that heavily restricted access to alcohol in Alice Springs is an approach that ‘has failed previously’.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s plan to effectively reintroduce the federal legislation that heavily restricted access to alcohol in Alice Springs and banned it in surrounding communities for more than a decade is an approach that “has failed previously”.

This is the claim by Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, Natasha Fyles, in a letter to the Alice Springs-based senator on Tuesday after it emerged that she would introduce a bill to trigger blanket alcohol bans and return authority to the commonwealth for alcohol management in central Australia.

Ms Fyles on Monday announced that her government would legislate Community Alcohol Plans for 96 Aboriginal communities across the Territory, 88 of them already dry.

Communities that wanted to opt out of a dry zone would need 60 per cent of the voting population to support a tailored Community Alcohol Plan.

Town camps in Alice Springs would be able to remain dry or ­select certain restrictions.

Ms Fyles warned Senator Price on Tuesday that reverting to the intervention-era laws that lapsed last July would not work.

“It has been observed that much of your proposed legislation is a repeat of the Stronger Futures Act, an extension of the intervention with the associated lack of consultation with community and makes the commonwealth minister the final approver of Alcohol Management Plans,” Ms Fyles wrote.

“It is evident this approach has failed previously and does not empower the communities to be involved in decision-making or implementing actions to reduce harm.”

Peter Dutton stressed that the Albanese government needed to “do more” beyond providing $250m for the NT to improve youth engagement, health ser­vices and infrastructure.

Senator Price described Ms Fyles letter as disappointing and wrong. She said she had told Ms Fyles in October last year about the bill she intended to introduce and invited her to meet to discuss issues of concern.

Senator Price said her bill was drafted in response to calls from vulnerable community members across the NT.

She pointed to a plea in June last year from nine Aboriginal organisations seeking urgent support from Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney “after failed attempts at communication with the Fyles government”.

Ms Burney has confirmed that she would visit Alice Springs with Territory MPs Marion Scrymgour and Malarndirri McCarthy this week.