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Intervention-era laws that imposed a blanket alcohol ban across Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory have come to an end after a decade.
Commonwealth laws banning alcohol in remote Aboriginal communities expired at midnight on Saturday, meaning liquor may be legally available for the first time in 15 years in some places.
The Northern Territory government amended its own liquor laws in preparation to the ban ending, but the process in which an “opt in” system was created raised significant concern. However, the government has been criticised for a lack of consultation with communities about the end of these restrictions.
Author Thomas Mayor says the situation shows the importance of an Indigenous voice to parliament:
The deficiency in the way that the Northern Territory government has consulted, that can be addressed with a strong voice, to be able to say to the government … this is how you need to consult in the future
An advocate for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Mayor said the blanket federal policy had been a failure:
One of the effects was that people just moved out of community to to access alcohol (and were) on the roads putting themselves and others in danger
It just created more opportunities for Indigenous people to be incarcerated … and basically was in ignorance to the real causes of alcohol problems in communities
The federal laws were among the last remnants of the race-based intervention targeting Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, chief minister Nicole Fyles said.
About 100 communities that were already under other NT liquor restrictions before the commonwealth law came into force in 2007 will revert to the previous controls.
The Howard government’s intervention in 2007 was an attempt to address violence, abuse and poverty in Indigenous communities.
The alcohol ban it introduced was continued by the Gillard government in 2012 with the Stronger Futures Act.
– from AAP