A Labor government in the Northern Territory would bring back a banned drinkers register, but would leave the continuation of temporary beat locations up to the police, the new opposition leader, Michael Gunner, has said.
The plan is among a series of policies Labor will be releasing before the August 2016 election, foreshadowed by Gunner as he announced a new deputy leader and reshuffle following last week’s leadership spill.
On his second day in leadership on Tuesday, Gunner reiterated Labor’s long-held support for the banned drinkers register (BDR) which requires retailers to scan IDs of customers and refuse sales of takeaway alcohol to registered problem drinkers.
However, he told Guardian Australia it would be up to the police, not government, to decide how much of their own resources they wanted to use on temporary beat locations (TBLs), a policy which has police stationed outside alcohol retailers to question customers and ensure the alcohol will not be taken to restricted areas such as prescribed alcohol-free town camps.
The BDR was scrapped when the Country Liberal party (CLP) took government, and had only been in operation for about a year. Instead, alcohol supply was addressed with an increase in the number of TBLs.
If Labor wins the August 2016 election it will work with the current CLP policies, but also transition the BDR back in, Gunner told Guardian Australia.
TBLs are a contentious alcohol policy, with detractors labelling them racially divisive and saying they unfairly target Aboriginal people, but supporters have said that when they are in operation and fully cover all bottle shops in a town, they are effective.
However, the full coverage of outlets required for TBLs to be effective without a BDR in place as well puts too much pressure on police, Gunner said.
“The [BDR] is a permanent territory-wide solution around supply, and it means police have the flexibility then to be able to respond to what’s happening in town,” he said.
Lack of police resources means there has not been blanket coverage in Alice Springs for most of this year, and there are too many bottle shops in Darwin for it to ever work in the city, said Gunner.
Under the Labor arrangement, it would be “up to the police to decide” on TBLs depending on local conditions, such as football carnivals bringing extra people to town.
“You have to be cost-effective and you have to give police the flexibility to do the job as they see fit,” he said.
The NT health minister, John Elferink, on Tuesday maintained the BDR did not work.
He said if Labor wanted to reintroduce the BDR “which was a demonstrated waste of taxpayers’ money, then that’s their business should they ever form a government.”
Elferink urged Labor not to scrap the TBLs should they ever win government, citing drops in crime rates in Katherine and Tennant Creek.
“The TBLs work and they work quickly. There’s no requirement for the TBLs to wait a year to see how it’s going,” he said.
Dr John Boffa, spokesman for the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition (Paac), has called for a formal, independent evaluation of alcohol management policies “to get over this sort of impasse”.
Further details around the BDR as well as other alcohol-related policies will be among a “series of regular policy announcements,” to be made by Labor before the next election.
“We want to have a thorough preparation for election in 2016, we want to have a thorough conversation with Territorians, we want to prove to them they can trust us to be a good government in 2016,” he told media on Thursday, announcing his new shadow cabinet lineup.
The member for Nhulunbuy, Lynne Walker, was appointed deputy Labor leader, and the member for Nightcliff, Natasha Fyles, opposition whip.
Fyles had previously supported Delia Lawrie as leader but said Gunner now has her “full support.”
Gunner said there were no deals made in the appointments. Former leader Lawrie, who resigned after it was revealed she was being investigated by police, had “asked for time and space” and had no shadow portfolios.
A new portfolio of “open and transparent government”, to be held by Gunner, was created, and there would be a series of announcements about Labor’s approach before the election, Gunner said.
“We’ll go through a whole range of things and I look forward to talking to you in great detail about what we would do to be an open and transparent government,” he said.
