Mr MILLS - 2010-08-19
Your government has flagged – flagged but failed to disclose - plans to introduce alcohol restrictions in Darwin and Palmerston - big response, big issue, however, you have just flagged you are going to do something. Will you rule out basing alcohol restrictions in the Top End on the failed alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the NT News for the campaign it is running now because it has recognised it is a significant issue in regard to reducing alcohol-induced violence across the Northern Territory. The only policy the Leader of the Opposition and the opposition has in regard to this issue is to extend trading hours and see more grog.
When I talk about Alice Springs and the success of the measures in Alice Springs, since the introduction of the management plan in 2008, serious assaults have dropped by 21%. That is a whole heap of grief and trauma which was occurring in Alice Springs that is now not occurring in Alice Springs and it is not a statistical anomaly; it is a significant reduction in serious assaults. Of course, there is still a long way to go.
The Menzies report - not the Northern Territory government; I assume the Leader of the Opposition respects Menzies, a great research institution in the Territory - shows there has been an 18% drop in pure alcohol sales in Alice Springs. That is the equivalent of 50 000 fewer cans of full-strength beer being drunk a week – a reduction of 50 000 cans of beer drunk each week in Alice Springs since the reforms. Since 2006, there has been an 85% drop in the sales of cask wine, the equivalent of 330 4 L wine casks being drunk a day.
That is a whole heap of misery which is not occurring in Alice Springs today but was occurring a few years ago. The Leader of the Opposition calls it a failure. Well, his policy is to increase trading hours and to let people have more access to grog ...
Mr Mills: Compulsory rehabilitation for the problem.
Mr HENDERSON: … we would see consumption go up. What a ridiculous assertion ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr HENDERSON: We have a long way to go as a community in dealing with the issues of alcohol-induced violence and, specifically, alcohol-induced domestic violence. Extending trading hours will not help.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the NT News for the campaign it is running now because it has recognised it is a significant issue in regard to reducing alcohol-induced violence across the Northern Territory. The only policy the Leader of the Opposition and the opposition has in regard to this issue is to extend trading hours and see more grog.
When I talk about Alice Springs and the success of the measures in Alice Springs, since the introduction of the management plan in 2008, serious assaults have dropped by 21%. That is a whole heap of grief and trauma which was occurring in Alice Springs that is now not occurring in Alice Springs and it is not a statistical anomaly; it is a significant reduction in serious assaults. Of course, there is still a long way to go.
The Menzies report - not the Northern Territory government; I assume the Leader of the Opposition respects Menzies, a great research institution in the Territory - shows there has been an 18% drop in pure alcohol sales in Alice Springs. That is the equivalent of 50 000 fewer cans of full-strength beer being drunk a week – a reduction of 50 000 cans of beer drunk each week in Alice Springs since the reforms. Since 2006, there has been an 85% drop in the sales of cask wine, the equivalent of 330 4 L wine casks being drunk a day.
That is a whole heap of misery which is not occurring in Alice Springs today but was occurring a few years ago. The Leader of the Opposition calls it a failure. Well, his policy is to increase trading hours and to let people have more access to grog ...
Mr Mills: Compulsory rehabilitation for the problem.
Mr HENDERSON: … we would see consumption go up. What a ridiculous assertion ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr HENDERSON: We have a long way to go as a community in dealing with the issues of alcohol-induced violence and, specifically, alcohol-induced domestic violence. Extending trading hours will not help.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016