Rural region looks for better and brighter booze options
Shire of Halls Creek says its liquor restrictions are not working and has urged the Parliament to think about a change.
Halls Creek Councillors said in their submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Harmful Use of Alcohol in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities that officials should actually visits the area.
They say a look would show the legislators that despite a few minor improvements, the grog ban has for the most part resulted spikes in rates of drug use and illegal alcohol trading.
Local authorities say they would like to see the sale of take-away liquor return, but this time underpinned with better restrictions.
The shire is pushing for a problem drinker ID system to cover the entire region. It has also suggested a daily purchase limit and proposed a profit-sharing agreement which would see money from alcohol spread across all dealers in the Kimberley.
Shire CEO Roger Kerr-Newell has told the ABC that the region wants a more thought-out approach, rather than blanket bans.
“What the inquiry has done is stimulate discussion in the community and on the council and we thought like many things it's not going to happen overnight but we do need to start that discussion and it needs to be rational and it needs to be informed and it needs to take account of community opinion,” he said.
“This is the Shire of Halls Creek starting a conversation with the community and with the Government and saying five years was an attempt to address the alcohol issues.
“It was a good start but it hasn't worked.
“So now, given our experience, here's a way forward which was designed actually to control alcohol more aggressively.”