Chance to end Alice Springs's era of 'animal bars' wasted

OFFICIALS bungled a chance to shut down one of Alice Springs's "animal bars" and have taken more than 18 months to suspend others caught breaching liquor laws.

Todd Tavern Alice Springs

OFFICIALS bungled a chance to shut down one of Alice Springs's so-called "animal bars" and have taken more than 18 months to suspend other licensees caught breaching liquor laws designed to prevent alcohol-fuelled violence across the Northern Territory.

As the Northern Territory government boasts it is combating the region's chronic alcohol problem, an investigation by The Australian can reveal that existing licensing laws covering the nearly 500 outlets in the Territory have not been effectively enforced.

The government is contemplating new laws in a bid to change drinkers' habits, with Territory residents already suffering the highest alcohol-attributable death rates in the country.

But The Australian has uncovered evidence that authorities missed an opportunity to act against one of Alice Springs' "animal bars" - venues that serve alcohol to a nearly entirely indigenous clientele. Social workers have called for the animal bars' operations to be curtailed, saying they encourage local Aborigines to drink in the morning and then profit from the same customers when they leave the bars to purchase from associated bottleshops that open at 2pm.

In August, NT Chief Minister Paul Henderson said such bars had no place in the Territory.

But little more than a month before he made the comments, the government's Department of Justice was forced to drop a case against a section of the Todd Tavern, which court records show has been a regular stop-over for some indigenous customers before alcohol-linked incidents.

The complaint related to an incident where the Todd Tavern was alleged to have allowed a minor to drink on the premises on September 16, 2009.

When the matter was heard by the department's Licensing Commission in early June last year, nine months later, counsel for the director of licensing, Caitlin McAlister, abruptly sought an adjournment as the key witness could not be summonsed to give evidence until more than a week later. Ms McAlister confirmed in the hearing that she had agreed the night before to withdraw the complaint but then on instructions went ahead with the case.

TheTodd Tavern's lawyer argued that an adjournment was unfair as it would further cost his client. The commission's presiding member, Philip Timmney, ruled the hearing should go ahead as costs had already been incurred by the Todd Tavern and the commission for travel of the presiding member and executive officer to attend the hearing. As soon as the commission allowed the hearing to continue, Ms McAlister withdrew the complaint as it emerged the witness had not been summonsed. Department of Justice officials declined to comment.

On the same day as the hearing, the commission was able to suspend the Todd Tavern's bar licence for five days for cramming 234 patrons into a bar licensed to hold 150. But a successful prosecution on the additional charge may have led to a longer closure.

Todd Tavern publican Leonie Leach was uncontactable yesterday, but Andrew Illman, a director of a company with a share in the Todd Tavern licence, said Ms Leach would not comment.

In other problems uncovered by The Australian, it emerged that the Licensing Commission was waiting nearly 20 months in some instances to punish bar operators caught serving drunk patrons or minors because of "process issues" in bringing cases under a legal option that allows the commission to seek additional penalties for licensees.

Section 124AAA of the NT Liquor Act can be used to punish a licensee if they have been found to have been convicted in a magistrates court of breaching sections of the act, including serving drunks or minors.

Licensing Commission chairman Richard O'Sullivan revealed the delays in a decision in October, and mentioned a review had been implemented to improve the situation. He noted that the procedures for handling matters were "under review to ensure future complaints were heard in a more timely manner".

He made the comment in relation to a Section 124AAA case involving a drunk being served at the Cavenagh Hotel in Darwin, which took close to 20 months to be dealt with by the commission.

The incident that sparked the complaint occurred on April 1, 2009, but the commission gave its decision on the additional penalty only in November last year.

The patron was found to have been able to buy a XXXX Gold stubby of beer despite just minutes before having been so drunk he was unsteady on his feet, yelling at patrons and having difficulty putting his drink on a table. The patron later recorded an alcohol reading of 0.255 in a breath test.

The commission finding noted that "considerable time had elapsed since the conviction". It handed out the penalty of a one-day suspension for the venue, with the penalty suspended for six months.

Another marathon 124AAA case related to a drunk being served in May 2008 at the Daly River Road House - a matter that was not decided by the commission until December 2009. In another case, the Katherine Hotel was pursued for serving a homeless Aboriginal man four cans of beer despite the man being refused service at another bottleshop, slurring and unsteady on his feet. Police decided the patron was so drunk he needed to be locked up for his own safety.

This case took nearly 16 months to be dealt with under the Section 124AAA complaint, with the decision to penalise the hotel handed down in July last year. The pub received a one-day suspension, which was suspended.

The Department of Justice refused to explain the delays, blaming them only on "process issues".