Police will also be able to run searches of the person’s history for outstanding warrants, breaches of bail and domestic violence orders.
After the statement had been issued, the government clarified that fines would be issued by police on-the-spot, but arresting and charging powers were not explained.
“These powers will allow police to intervene earlier to ensure we stop this scourge in public places where alcohol is prohibited,” Mr Edgington said.
“We want to reduce the harm being caused by alcohol in our community and enforce a higher community standard.”
The changes will be introduced, debated and passed in the first sitting of Parliament, which starts on Tuesday, along with a host of other legislative amendments to bail and weapons laws.
Mr Edgington said prohibited public places covered by the law are in Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine, Palmerston, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy, any other public place within 2km of a licensed premises or any other place prescribed by regulation or by a local council.
Approved exemption areas where drinking is allowed during specified hours will remain. These presently include Darwin’s East Point, Mindil Beach and the Nightcliff foreshore, although people can still be charged, arrested and fined for nuisance public drinking in an exemption area.
Association of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies NT Chief Executive Stephanie Holmes said reintroducing a public drinking offence would disproportionately impact vulnerable people.
She said the issue would be better dealt with from a therapeutic perspective that emphasised the benefits of health intervention.
Ms Holmes said she recognised the government’s concerns about problematic public drinking making people feel unsafe but reiterated that a health approach was the best way to secure a safer community.
“I want to emphasise that punitive approaches are not the most effective solution,” she said.
“What I would say is that it is important to acknowledge the issues..and the harms caused by the risk to public safety.
“But a punitive approach further marginalises already vulnerable people who are often victims of trauma, have addictions, have mental health problems or may be homeless.”
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the Labor government ignored police concerns when it watered down public drunkenness powers in 2019.
She said these changes would restore that confidence and give police greater powers.
“This is about making our public spaces and parks safer and cleaner for everyone,” Ms Boothy said.
Public drinking was previously an offence until changes to the Liquor Act in 2019, which the government said was (a very delayed) response to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Section 128 of the Police Administration Act provides that police can apprehend someone who appears to be drunk to the point of not being able to care for themselves and who may “cause harm to themselves or to someone else, alarm the general public or commit an offence. This is known as ‘protective custody’ and is classed as ‘apprehension without arrest’
People can also be charged for drunken behaviour under the Summary Offences Act.
Independent Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley said she supported the changes but thought they would only be necessary as a temporary measure, saying that when the government introduced mandatory alcohol treatment, the problem of public drunkenness would be basically solved.
One of the CLP’s election promises was that it would reinstate its mandatory treatment program and end the NT’s ‘floor price’ for alcohol, which bans sales of alcohol below $1.30 per standard drink.
“This is probably one that is only needed until they roll out mandatory alcohol treatment again,” Ms Lambley said.
“In 2013-14 when I rolled mandatory treatment out, that is exactly what it did. It took the drunks off the streets – it was very, very effective.
“I support what the government is trying to do. When you walk around the streets of Alice Springs, you are literally walking over and around drunks on the street and that is completely unacceptable.”
A report released by the Menzies School of Health Research in mid-July said mandatory alcohol treatment was not an appropriate measure to address public drunkenness, but a well-designed and implemented model may provide some benefit to a tiny group of people who are at risk of death or serious disability.
Menzies researcher and one of five authors of the Mandatory Alcohol Treatment discussion paper, Dr Cassandra Wright, said alcohol treatment programs need to be line with international evidence because mandatory treatment involved the removal of a person’s liberty and evidence showed it should only be used in lifesaving circumstances where voluntary treatment had been ineffective.
Other legislative changes the new government will introduce include amendments to bail and knife crime laws and expanding police powers to allow officers to use hand-held metal detectors to search students for weapons in schools and on public buses.
The proposed changes also include a presumption against bail for serious violent offenders, mandatory electronic monitoring for repeat serious offenders on bail and lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10 years.
Wanding for weapons in schools and on buses was announced this week but the other changes were election promises in the CLP’s crime reduction election campaign.
Some were policies announced following the stabbing murder of Declan Laverty who was killed by Keith Kerinauia while working his shift at the Airport Tavern BWS bottleshop in March.
This is fantastic and why the voters gave a breath taking mandate to the CLP!
And in terms of any document that comes out of the Bermuda Triangle of Tax payers fund “Menzies School of Alleged Health Research”, who cares???? What does that place actually do????
This measure may work for Europeans, but nobody else.
Fining Aboriginal nuisance drinkers and stand-over merchants sounds good, but how are you going to make them pay? They will give alternative names and addresses and move to a new drinking camp.
Even if you identify them accurately, they will not pay their fines. If you imprison them, then the taxpayer has to meet the cost of lodging as well, which will make them marginally healthier for the next bout of drinking. This is never a deterrent.
Some academic believes drinkers must be warned about the health implications of alcohol abuse. Somebody please put this princess somewhere she can do no harm.
Robyn Lambley wants therapy. You pay for it, Jackie. Perhaps your Latte club members will contribute.
Seriously, one third of the NT population is marginalised by government and has been since 1978; so of course, increasingly, they anaesthetise with alcohol. This is actually what happens when you refuse to recognise or communicate human beings, regardless of race.
The original Liquor Commissioner, Ian Pitman, was a professional in this arena, which is why the first administration was a success. Bumbling bureaucrats and politicians have managed to create a disaster area that effects the innocent along with the guilty.
The first move should have been to cease harassing normal drinkers by demanding ID. This is pure WEFfery and does not belong in Australia.
Secondly, the restriction means one part of the population covers its fortnight budgetary shortfall by buying Jack Danials and later selling for double the price. This is a virtual NT industry. Pretending this seldom occurs is part of the problem because the most determined drinkers access this black-market and it is the kids and the reduced grocery supply who suffer.
Finally, give up on prisons. Apart from remand, this achieves nothing and actually creates recidivists. Break free from this absurd tradition and establish rural work centres where convicted prisoners eradicate noxious weeds, have award pay lodged into their accounts and, upon release, provide supervision to enable reentry into the wider community. This also provides work experience, something sorely lacking among many Territorians.
I can tell you one thing for sure; no problem drinkers will risk a return to earning a living.
I say all this tongue-in-cheek. Alcohol abuse has worsened steadily in the more than fifty years I have observed the Top End, and no politician is going to admit this. We will steadfastly make matters worse, It’s a glorious tradition.
The Horse bolted years ago
All of the reasons why it won’t work by people that want to maintain the victimhood theory.
Alcohol addiction is an illness. BDR and floor price do nothing to help the situation. All that floor price changed was the choice of poison. The latest arrest for grog running showed a big collection of spirits including rum which has at least one fight in every bottle. Rum is well known for causing aggressive behaviour and has become a drink of choice since cask wine was priced out of the market. The other effect of floor price was to decimate finances quicker before children got food. This has a flow on effect such as the break-ins and armed robberies in Katherine and Alice. Every police crackdown has been little more than an exercise in herding cats. The problems always move to the place where police resources are temporarily depleted. We need to give the government space to implement measures to reduce the current problems and start working on the root causes.