Canny Alice Springs locals exploit booze ban loophole

Alice Springs locals are exploiting a loophole permitting them to drink alcohol in a licensed venue from as early as 11am despite booze bans coming in to force overnight.

Alice Springs locals are exploiting a loophole to drink alcohol in a licensed venue from 11am despite takeaway venues closing on Monday and Tuesdays. Picture: Liam Mendes

Alice Springs locals are exploiting a loophole permitting them to drink alcohol in a licensed venue from as early as 11am despite booze bans coming in to force overnight prohibiting the sale of takeaway alcohol in the town until Wednesday.

The Australian also witnessed locals consuming alcohol at a ­licensed venue despite the waitress saying they were intoxicated upon arrival, an apparent breach of the Northern Territory’s liquor licensing laws.

On Monday, takeaway liquor outlets remained closed after Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’ announcement last week that temporary restrictions would be put in place amid warnings alcohol-fuelled violence in Alice Springs was worse than a decade ago, with sales limited to one person a day.

The revelations came as Anthony Albanese was slammed for attending the Australian Open three nights in a row last week in Melbourne, and only visiting Alice Springs once.

Country Liberal senator Jacinta Price told the Herald Sun it was a “an insult and a kick in the guts for the people of Alice Springs to see the PM spending more time relaxing and chugging back beers at the tennis than what he did on the ground in Alice Spring.”

On Monday in Alice Springs, it appeared some locals were unaware of fresh restrictions as they fronted up to takeaway ven­ues to purchase liquor.

When The Australian entered one restaurant, a licensed premises on one of the main streets of Alice Springs, just before 1pm, three visibly and audibly intoxicated Indigenous people were drinking from two bottles of wine and a bottle of beer.

The serving waitress said she gave them “only one” drink because they were intoxicated upon arrival, an apparent breach of the NT government’s strict licensing laws, but she did refuse to serve them further alcohol.

People’s Alcohol Action ­Coalition spokesman John Boffa said consuming alcohol on premises was a “much less harmful context for drinking” than taking grog away to consume elsewhere.

“Even when Stronger Futures was in place, people couldn’t get takeaway and could drink on ­licensed premises. It was never a prohibition,” Dr Boffa said.

“You have to have liquor inspectors and so on to make sure drinking on licence (licensed premises) is properly regulated … They need to be out in force on Mondays and Tuesdays to make sure we don’t see the same harms.”

A NT government spokeswoman said restrictions on takeaway alcohol were “coupled with an increase in compliance using tools”, including an on premise “Banned Drinking Register blitz”.

“Takeaway alcohol consumption is generally riskier due to the lack of supervision,” she said.

“On-premises licensees have strict legal obligations under the Liquor Act 2019 to ensure responsible service of alcohol, which includes refusing service to intoxicated persons and excluding patrons who are being violent, quarrelsome and disorderly.”

NT Police Association president Paul McCue said the organisation had for years lobbied for stricter alcohol restrictions at pubs, clubs and liquor stores. He said while the Banned Liquor Register was commonplace in bottle shops, allowing staff to scan IDs and check whether the customer had offences against their name, it needed to be expanded.