Mr WOOD - 2012-10-24
Your government has now scrapped the requirement for ID to purchase takeaway alcohol. Is there still a Banned Drinker Register? If so, how many people are on the register? Will banned drinkers be breaking the law if they purchase alcohol, and how will licensees identify who is banned if no ID is required?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I suggest the Attorney-General might be better placed to answer this question.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his questions. Yes, there is still a Banned Drinker Register. It is in a state of hiatus because we have stopped the requirement for people to produce identification. We have not yet pulled apart the legislation because there are still components of it that may be useful at some point in the future.
However, it does give me an opportunity to point out that in the year prior to the introduction of the Banned Drinker Register, the organ that was supposed to keep so many drunks off the streets, 20 354 drunks were apprehended in the Northern Territory. In the year after its operation commenced, 19 988 drunks were apprehended in the Northern Territory for protective custody. To place that on the record, that means the difference between the two years was 366 fewer drunks in the first year of operation.
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The questions were specific, and one was: Will banned drinkers be breaking the law if they purchase alcohol?
Mr ELFERINK: They were not, under the Banned Drinker Register. This is the problem with the way the Banned Drinker Register worked. If you were on the Banned Drinker Register and purchased alcohol and got drunk and were picked up again, you got another banned drinker notice. That is why this register failed.
One individual was arrested 117 times whilst he was on the Banned Drinker Register. That is why we pulled the plug on it. This is an $18m program the previous government rolled out and for the …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister answered that question. The other part of the question is: If licensees identify a banned drinker are they required to not supply alcohol to that person, regardless of whether they have ID?
Mr ELFERINK: It is the discretion of any licensee to serve alcohol. That is how the law works. Whether or not that person is on the Banned Drinker Register, it is the discretion of the licensee to determine who he sells liquor to. In fact, we expect it in the Liquor Act, particularly with intoxicated patrons.
However, what I am driving at, and what I would like honourable members to remember, is for each of the 366 fewer apprehensions from when it did work and did not work the cost for each apprehension saved under their program was $50 000, not a good use of taxpayers’ money.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I suggest the Attorney-General might be better placed to answer this question.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his questions. Yes, there is still a Banned Drinker Register. It is in a state of hiatus because we have stopped the requirement for people to produce identification. We have not yet pulled apart the legislation because there are still components of it that may be useful at some point in the future.
However, it does give me an opportunity to point out that in the year prior to the introduction of the Banned Drinker Register, the organ that was supposed to keep so many drunks off the streets, 20 354 drunks were apprehended in the Northern Territory. In the year after its operation commenced, 19 988 drunks were apprehended in the Northern Territory for protective custody. To place that on the record, that means the difference between the two years was 366 fewer drunks in the first year of operation.
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The questions were specific, and one was: Will banned drinkers be breaking the law if they purchase alcohol?
Mr ELFERINK: They were not, under the Banned Drinker Register. This is the problem with the way the Banned Drinker Register worked. If you were on the Banned Drinker Register and purchased alcohol and got drunk and were picked up again, you got another banned drinker notice. That is why this register failed.
One individual was arrested 117 times whilst he was on the Banned Drinker Register. That is why we pulled the plug on it. This is an $18m program the previous government rolled out and for the …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister answered that question. The other part of the question is: If licensees identify a banned drinker are they required to not supply alcohol to that person, regardless of whether they have ID?
Mr ELFERINK: It is the discretion of any licensee to serve alcohol. That is how the law works. Whether or not that person is on the Banned Drinker Register, it is the discretion of the licensee to determine who he sells liquor to. In fact, we expect it in the Liquor Act, particularly with intoxicated patrons.
However, what I am driving at, and what I would like honourable members to remember, is for each of the 366 fewer apprehensions from when it did work and did not work the cost for each apprehension saved under their program was $50 000, not a good use of taxpayers’ money.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016