Policing alcohol 'discriminatory', hotel lobby says, as police urge industry to 'take responsibility'
Posted
The group representing pubs and clubs in the Northern Territory says it would be "reluctant" to have staff policing takeaway alcohol because it is an "ad hoc" measure that is "discriminatory in nature".
Health groups in Alice Springs have flagged concerns demand for services and crime have spiked because of scaled back point-of-sale interventions (POSIs) since the Banned Drinker Register (BDR) was introduced in 2017.
NT police have defended the decision to reduce their patrols of bottle shops, maintaining that extra resources would improve their capacity to respond to other incidents.
The NT Branch of the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) said it too supported the move.
"[Temporary Beat Locations] was put together as an ad hoc measure and, as such, hasn't gone through the appropriate regulatory framework to make sure it doesn't breach the discrimination laws," branch CEO Des Crowe said.
"We do believe that there is a way forward, and that we can come up with some additional technology attached to what we've currently got in terms of the BDR."
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the Government was investigating how it could introduce liquor inspectors, touted by the AHA as an "interim measure".
"There's obviously a whole body of work that needs to be done around legislative powers for that, recruitment and then into training and then into the replacement of police outside bottle shops," he said.
"So that's something that we're working on."
Time to 'shift focus', police association says
The Northern Territory Police Association has hit out at recent debate about alcohol abuse, saying it is sick of police being blamed for alcohol-related harm, while the industry "fails to take responsibility".
"Police don't sell the alcohol, they're not there to control the actual point-of-sale alcohol that the takeaway outlets undertake," association president Paul McCue said.
"For far too long, the focus has been on police standing at bottle shops when they are doing all they can with the resourcing they got."
"What we need to do is put the spotlight on the takeaway outlets themselves, the alcohol industry itself."
Mr Crowe rejected the association's criticisms.
"You know, they fail to take into account that currently we pay $50 million in the Territory in relation to alcohol sales in taxes," he said.
"That money unfortunately goes straight to the Commonwealth so there is some arguments there how the Territory Government gets that money back."
The Alice Springs People's Alcohol Action Coalition has called for the patrols to remain in place until licensed liquor inspectors had been recruited and trained.
