Alcohol limits by Alice Springs supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths ‘destined to fail’

A plan to limit how much Alice Springs bottle shop customers can buy per day is unlikely to put a dent in the town’s worsening crime crisis, advocates say. Read what the restrictions will be.

Limits on purchases from Liquorland in Alice Springs are ‘still enough alcohol to get several people well and truly dangerously intoxicated’.

Voluntary limits on the sale of alcohol in Alice Springs introduced by major supermarkets in response to a worsening crime crisis are unlikely to have any effect, advocates say.

Coles and Woolworths have stopped selling 1 litre bottles of spirits in a bid to tackle alcohol fuelled violence and anti-social behaviour, with Coles also putting in place additional voluntary restrictions from Monday.

Under an initial two week trial, Liquorland customers will be limited to one purchase per day and able to buy no more than two cartons of full-strength beer, one 750ml bottle of spirits and six bottles of wine at a time.

But Association of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies NT executive officer Peter Burnheim said while it appeared the supermarket giants had “recognised that there’s a problem”, the voluntary restrictions were destined to fail.

“I don’t think the limits they’re proposing are going to have any impact on alcohol consumption,” he said.

“That sort of quantity of alcohol for an individual to be able to buy each day is not going to limit any intake really.

“Even if people are supplying others, whether the people are on the (banned drinker register) or not, that’s still enough alcohol to get several people well and truly dangerously intoxicated.”

Territory government data shows total alcohol sales declined in Alice Springs by almost 10 per cent between 2019 and 2020, but Mr Burnheim said it was difficult to know if that trend had continued after the government stopped publishing the data.

He said while some smaller mixed businesses had been fined for exceeding a 25 per cent cap on revenue derived from alcohol sales, those limits did not apply to the big chains.

The latest NT Police statistics show alcohol related assaults in Alice Springs increased from 903 in 2021 to 1396 in 2022, reaching a six year high of 4853 per 100,000 residents.

During the same period in Darwin, assaults involving alcohol fell from 1424 in 2021 to 1254 in 2022, for a rate of 1438.3 per 100,000 residents.

It comes after Police Minister Kate Worden nominated “secondary supply” as one of the root causes of Alice Springs’ current troubles.

“There is clearly a black market going on in Alice Springs, and if anyone knows about that please let us know, let our police or your local member know,” she said.

“But at the moment we’re allowing industry to think about ways that it can help us get a change.”

Originally published as Alcohol limits by Alice Springs supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths ‘destined to fail’