NT booze ban ‘better late than never’, says Malarndirri McCarthy

Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy says ‘enormous pressure’ was applied to the NT government from the commonwealth to get them to agree to introduce alcohol restrictions.

Northern Territory Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Northern Territory Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy says “enormous pressure” was applied to the NT government from the commonwealth to get them to agree to introduce alcohol restrictions, but the action still came “too late”.

It comes as a letter from former Coalition Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt, obtained by the Australian, showed the Morrison government supported the ending of federal laws banning alcohol and put its faith in the NT “to administer its jurisdictional responsibilities” on alcohol misuse and liquor licences for remote stores.

In a 2021 letter to NT Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo, Mr Wyatt said he believed that the sunsetting of the federal “stronger futures” legislation in July 2022 “should occur”.

“I acknowledge your commitment to seeing the sunsetting of the … act as an opportunity to work with Indigenous Territor­ians and to build positive legislative-based outcomes for the NT.”

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles on Monday announced blanket booze bans would apply to town camps and communities across the Territory from next week after months of community leaders and peak bodies sounding alarm at a rising crime wave since the expiry of the laws with no effective “transition plan” in place.

Despite the NT government’s about-face on alcohol bans, which Ms Fyles has previously criticised as being “race-based”, Country Liberal Party senator ­Jacinta Price went ahead with her private senator’s bill in federal parliament that would see alcohol bans again regulated by the commonwealth.

She tearfully told the Senate her community in the NT was “hurting”.

“The Australian government has a responsibility to ensure that the NT has consistency in law and order,” Senator Price said.

Senator McCarthy said she had experienced similarly traumatic events, which prompted her advocacy for alcohol bans to be implemented in communities.

“Alcohol is a scourge, and you know that domestic violence (is rife) … We all have our stories,” she told the Senate.

“(One of my) aunties … was smashed to smithereens by her partner thanks to alcohol. Today she lives … with no feet, they had to be amputated. Her elbows, she can’t move, because of the fractures from what she received from the hits.”

Senator McCarthy made clear the NT could have acted faster to address the problems in the town over the past six months, which included a dramatic increase in domestic violence.

“There has been enormous pressure applied to ensure that the NT government does what we know they are capable of doing within the NT Legislative Assembly, and that is to make the amendments required,” she said.

“Did they do it too late? Have they been real slow? Well, I think we can all answer that.”

Despite her criticism of the lack of urgency, she said the important thing was that alcohol bans would now be in place, and federal intervention wasn’t needed. “I am such a firm believer in democracy in this country, I am such a firm believer in the empowerment of people at every level,” she said.