The NT Government has passed a law allowing police to arrest people for “nuisance drinking” in public.
It comes after the NT’s newly-elected(CLP) Government passed legislation this week.
It was illegal to drink in public in the NT prior to this law. However, in most cases, police were only allowed to confiscate alcohol.
The Opposition has warned the Bill could lead to over-policing “and over-incarceration of Aboriginal Territorians, an increased risk of a death in custody and the sidelining of health and medical professionals”.
Details
Under existing NT law, drinking is not allowed in major towns, or within 2km of a licensed venue. Previously, police were only able to take someone into custody if they were at risk of hurting themselves or others.
New legislation will give police powers to arrest people for “nuisance drinking” in prohibited places and issue a fine of up to $925. They can also ban people from buying alcohol for a set period.
NT Alcohol Policy Minister Steve Edgington said the Government wants “to reduce the harm being caused by alcohol in our community”.
NT Government
Edgington said the Government’s new law is about “making our public spaces and parks safer and cleaner for everyone”.
The CLP defeated the Labor Party at the NT election in August. This reform is part of a suite of CLP election promises aimed at reducing crime rates.
Earlier this week, the CLP lowered the age offrom 12 to 10.
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Other CLP election promises included creating “boot camps” for First Nations young people, and stricter bail laws.
Response
Arnhem Land MP Elder Yiŋiya Guyula has argued the new public drinking laws will discriminate against the state’s First Nations population.
In a post to social media, Guyula wrote: “We are going to see an increased number of Aboriginal people — adults and children in jail… We are being disempowered further by a colonial government”.
He encouraged First Nations people camping in large towns to think about returning to their “homeland” communities.
Opposition
NT’s Labor Opposition said criminalising public drunkenness is “inappropriate and ineffective”. It called alcohol misuse a health issue.
In 2019, the then-Labor Government rewrote the NT Liquor Act, after what it called “the most comprehensive review on alcohol policy and alcohol legislation” in the NT’s history.
This week, Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said the previous act was “confusing, disjointed” and “failed Territorians”. She argued the new law would see the NT “revert to something that did not work for a long time.”
“I do not believe that the reintroduction of monetary fines in the Liquor Act will have a meaningful impact on addressing problem drinking in public areas,” she said.
Uibo argued fines and arrests won’t necessarily “help the underlying issues that a person may face”.
“Territorians expect and deserve the best contemporary and modern legislation and regulations… to ensure that it makes the Territory a better place. This Bill fails to do that.”
