Carnarvon liquor merchant reveals impact of ‘Australia’s toughest’ alcohol laws
An Australian bottle shop owner is stuck with thousands of beers he can’t sell because of one detail in a government decision.
WA News
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“Here it is,” Nathan Condo said as he slid open the door of an old cool room in his large shed in Carnarvon — a remote coastal town situated about 900km north of Perth, in Western Australia.
Inside were 20 pallets of beer and a stack of wine casks.
“I can’t sell it. It’s all gotta go back somehow,” he continued.
Among a raft of new liquor restrictions in the town to curb a rise in alcohol-fuelled crime is the requirement that any product with a canned alternative be sold in that form.
Mr Condo, the owner of two of the town’s three bottle shops, is now stuck with a mountain of stubbies and a large number of wine casks which are also now illegal to sell as they were over 1.5 litres.
He can supply local licensees with the stubbies, but even that struggles to make a dent, as draught beer off-tap is the drink of choice at the pubs in town.
His supplier has agreed to purchase the product back, though Mr Condo will foot the bill for shipping.
And as Carnarvon is so isolated, he expects that will cost him dearly, having already paid to ship them there in the first place.
Like most locals, Mr Condo acknowledges restrictions were needed, but the magnitude of what was implemented by the state government “blindsided” him, other traders, and locals alike.
He and other local stakeholders, for years, had attempted to self-regulate through a regional liquor accord.
But in May this year, the Government, which publicly wrote their efforts off as a failure, stepped in with their own restrictions.
Former Premier Mark McGowan declared the suite of alcohol restrictions in Carnarvon would be “tougher” than those seen in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory following the unrest that made national headlines earlier this year.
Carnarvon had become part of what Mr McGowan called a “nation-leading effort” to curb anti-social behaviour through alcohol restrictions.
“We are intervening to save lives … to save disruption and to prevent crime, and to ensure that children are kept safer in Carnarvon — and I make no apologies for that,” he said at the announcement.
The restrictions limit customers to 11.25 litres (a slab of cans) of beer cider or pre-mixed spirits with an alcohol percentage of less than 6 per cent, or 3.75 litres if over that amount.
Customers can also buy just 1.5 litres of wine, one litre of spirits and one litre of fortified wine – and traders say you can’t mix and match.
The measures also ban the sale of any takeaway alcohol on Sunday or Monday and limit trade to between 12pm and 7pm on any other day.
Wine by bottle or cask must be sold for at least $15, and it is also dictated where a product is available in cans, it should not be sold in glass.
A banned-drinkers register, already being trailed in parts of the Pilbara, Kimberley, and the Goldfields, is also being expanded to include Carnarvon.
Mad dash to buy grog
It was 12pm at Mr Condo’s Al’s Bottlemart store on the town’s eastern fringe.
Attendants Asha Jones and Ana Ferreira paced nervously as they waited for the start of trade at 12pm.
The pair, who have also seen a massive hit to their weekly available work hours, told news.com.au they had become “the complaints department” for the state government’s new laws.
As the doors swung open, a big line had already formed in the drive-through.
The store filled up fast, not necessarily because of the increased demand, but because a two-minute in-and-out bottle shop visit has turned into 10.
If you’re local, you are subject to all of the government restrictions and must have your ID scanned to check whether or not you are on the state’s Banned Drinker’s Register.
It’s not much easier if you’re from out of town as you’ll be required to sign a form declaring you’re not staying in Carnarvon, thus not subject to volume limits.
“See, it’s so time consuming,” Ana said as she processed a customer.
“I love this job, it used to be a good way to connect with people, but that’s kinda changed now,” Asha said.
Mr Condo, who is part of the town’s now mute liquor accord, said he felt vilified by the laws.
“We haven’t done anything wrong in the last seven years,” he said.
“The way it’s written feels very rushed, and there’s so many contradictory things.
“If you’re someone who wants a six-pack of beer and a couple of Jack Daniels cans at the end of the night, you can’t do it because it’s changing categories – that seems flawed.
“They made (the accord) out to be some sort of disorganised rabble … but we’d figure out what worked and what was financially viable.
“With the stroke of a pencil, they have treated us like criminals, and I haven’t had so much as a warning in the last seven years.”
Mr Condo said his turnover from his seven years running the stores has been impacted significantly.
“Seven years of hard work has almost been for nothing really,” he said.
This story is part of a series on the impacts of Carnarvon’s newly implemented liquor restrictions.
Originally published as Carnarvon liquor merchant reveals impact of ‘Australia’s toughest’ alcohol laws
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