Black market alcohol sales drop after liquor restrictions trial in Gove Peninsula region

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A remote region in the Northern Territory is making alcohol restrictions ongoing – after efforts to crackdown on blackmarket sales were successful and alcohol related violence was kept at a steady rate.

Transcript

00:00Every night, fight breakouts, everywhere. It's just worse, getting worse and worse.

00:11Now in his 60s, this Yirrkala elder is kept up at night dealing with the fallout from

00:17alcohol abuse in his community.

00:19It was just all over, all over. People there, homelands and everyone coming in and shit

00:28and fighting.

00:30In a bid to combat the issue on the Gove Peninsula, around 700km east of Darwin, trial alcohol

00:38restrictions in the region have, from this week, been made ongoing. It comes after calls

00:43from a group made up of traditional owners, police, health officials, community groups

00:48and businesses.

00:49We are not resting on our laurels here. There have been significant improvements, but there's

00:55always opportunity for us to continue to grow and develop.

00:59The restrictions place takeaway limits on the sale of beer, wine and spirits. Police

01:05say since the trial began in 2023, rates of domestic violence haven't risen as severely

01:11as other parts of the territory and black market liquor sales have dropped.

01:16What we have seen in respect to that is the repeat and persistent and pervasive nature

01:23of secondary supply in the community has reduced considerably.

01:28Officials say early outcry against the restrictions from some in the community has quietened down

01:33and alcohol outlets like the Gove Country Golf Club have also been part of the push

01:39to keep the limits in place.

01:41I would like to see a decrease in the violence and just disrespect of different people's

01:50environments and workplaces. So I think, yeah, I think if there's a decrease in that,

01:57then obviously that's going to be a very good thing for our community.

02:00Authorities here in Noolambuya believe that with the relative early successes of their

02:04locally driven alcohol restrictions plan, it could be used as a model by other towns

02:10across the territory to try to tackle their own issues with alcohol abuse.

02:15This is a community led initiative. The community have the best appreciation of how to tackle

02:22the issues that impact their community.

02:25What we have set would be something of an example for the others to follow.

02:31This Goumach clan elder has been at the forefront of alcohol reform in Gove for decades and

02:37believes while recent signs are promising, there's much more work to be done.

02:42Let's work together, bring us into what I'd call a harmony, a peacemaking.

02:49And when we do that, it's a ripple effect from us to the rest of the community.

02:55Making strides to becoming stronger and safer on a journey that's still got a long way to go.

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