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Alcohol Restrictions in Indigenous Communities and Frontier Towns

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Alcohol Restrictions in Indigenous Communities and Frontier Towns POLICYMONOGRAPHS Alcohol Restrictions in Indigenous Communities and Frontier Towns Sara Hudson ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thank you to the anonymous reviewers and interested readers whose feedback and advice were invaluable in the drafting of this paper. Also thanks to the people who spoke to me on my travels to Western Australia. Any remaining errors or omissions are my responsibility. The CIS is pleased to acknowledge the support of the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation towards its Indigenous Affairs Research Program. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Hudson, Sara, 1974- Alcohol restrictions in Indigenous communities and frontier towns / Sara Hudson. 9781864321456 (pbk.) CIS policy monographs PM116. Aboriginal Australians--Alcohol use. Alcoholism--Australia--Social aspects. Aboriginal Australians--Social conditions. Alcoholism--Australia--Prevention. Alcohol--Physiological effect. Alcoholism--Treatment. Aboriginal Australians--Crime. Alcoholism and crime--Australia. Alcohol--Law and legislation--Australia. Aboriginal Australians--Legal status, laws, etc. Centre for Independent Studies (Australia) 362.29089915 Alcohol Restrictions in Indigenous Communities and Frontier Towns Sara Hudson CIS Policy Monograph 116 2011 CIS publications on Indigenous affairs Policy Monographs PM113 Private Housing on Indigenous Lands, 2010, Helen Hughes, Mark Hughes, and Sara Hudson PM110 Indigenous Education 2010, 2010, Helen Huges and Mark Hughes PM107 Indigenous Employment, Unemployment and Labour Force Participation: Facts for Evidence Based Policies, 2010, Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes PM105 Closing the Accountability Gap: The First Step Towards Better Indigenous Health, 2009, Sara Hudson PM94 Revisiting Indigenous Education, 2009, Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes PM92 From Rhetoric to Reality: Can 99-year Leases Lead to Homeownership for Indigenous Communities? 2009, Sara Hudson PM86 CDEP: Help or Hindrance? The Community Development Employment Program and its Impact on Indigenous Australians, 2008, Sara Hudson PM83 Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory, 2008, Helen Hughes Issue Analysis IA122 Healthy Stores, Healthy Communities: The Impact of Outback Stores on Remote Indigenous Australians, 2010, Sara Hudson IA116 Educating the Disadvantaged, 2009, Jennifer Buckingham, John Fleming, Jean Illingworth, Chris Goddard IA110 Indigenous Participation in University Education, 2009, Joe Lane IA88 Kava and after in the Nhulunbuy (Gulf of Carpenteria) Hinterland, 2007, Helen Hughes IA86 What is Working in Good Schools in Remote Indigenous Communities? 2007, Kirsten Storry IA78 Indigenous Governance at the Crossroads: The Way Forward, 2007, John Cleary IA73 Tackling Literacy in Remote Aboriginal Communities, 2006, Kirsten Storry IA72 School Autonomy: A Key Reform for Improving Indigenous Education, 2006, Julie Novak IA65 Education and Learning in an Aboriginal Community, 2005, Veronica Cleary IA63 The Economics of Indigenous Deprivation and Proposals for Reform, 2005, Helen Hughes IA55 Lessons from the Tiwi Islands, 2005, John Cleary IA54 A New Deal for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in Remote Communities, 2005, Helen Hughes and Jenness Warin Occasional Papers OP100 Welfare Reform and Economic Development for Indigenous Communities. 2005, Noel Pearson Also by Helen Hughes Helen Hughes, ‘Who Are Indigenous Australians,’ Quadrant 53:4 (November 2008) Helen Hughes, ‘Strangers in Their Own Country: A Diary of Hope,’ Quadrant 52:3 (March 2008) Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Alcohol consumption and drinking patterns ..................................................................... 1 Harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption ........................................................... 2 Health impacts .........................................................................................................2 Social impacts ..........................................................................................................3 Impact on Indigenous communities and frontier towns ...........................................3 Origins of alcohol abuse .................................................................................................. 4 The downward spiral (or the unintended consequences of good intentions) ...........4 Alcohol practices in remote communities and frontier towns ........................................... 6 On-premises drinking ...............................................................................................6 Night patrols ............................................................................................................8 Government responsibility to mitigate alcohol-related harm ............................................. 9 Alcohol restrictions in remote communities and country towns...................................... 10 Voluntary bans in remote outstations—‘dry’ community declarations ....................10 Alcohol Management Plans (Queensland) .............................................................10 The Northern Territory Intervention (NTI) ..............................................................11 Alcohol restrictions in frontier towns .....................................................................12 New South Wales .............................................................................................13 Measuring the effectiveness of restrictions .................................................................... 13 Pros .......................................................................................................................15 Cons ......................................................................................................................18 Limitations of restrictions ..................................................................................19 No good without enforcement .........................................................................19 Responsible serving of alcohol ..........................................................................20 Restrictions do not address why people drink (demand reduction) ...................20 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 21 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 23 Endnotes ....................................................................................................................... 24 Sara Hudson Executive Summary Double standards in the responsible serving of alcohol have contributed to the growing alcohol problem in remote Indigenous communities, and are one reason why alcohol restrictions are now in place in communities across the Far North. But until the same standards are applied everywhere, there is no way of knowing whether such restrictions are really necessary. More controls on alcohol will have little effect until all the double standards that permeate Aboriginal people’s lives are addressed. Australia has a long history of treating Aboriginal people differently. First they were subjected to discriminatory laws that prevented them from living where they chose, drinking legally, voting, and being paid a fair wage. When these inequitable laws were finally abolished, they were replaced by equally damaging affirmative action and ‘culturally appropriate’ separatist policies. Denied the same educational and housing opportunities provided to others, remote Indigenous Australians have become increasingly reliant on the state to meet their every need. The harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption are a problem across Australia but more pronounced in many Aboriginal communities because nearly every resident is reliant on welfare. The absence of a real economy and appropriate controls on alcohol has created social environments where welfare payments are spent on alcohol and heavy drinking has become endemic. Few canteens on Indigenous lands and taverns in remote areas serve alcohol responsibly, with devastating results for communities. Aurukun was once described as a ‘liveable and vibrant community,’ but following the introduction of a regular supply of alcohol and no controls on its use, levels of violence, abuse and neglect skyrocketed. In 2000, the town’s homicide rate was estimated at 120 times the state average.1 In the 1970s, increasing liberalisation of liquor licensing laws saw an increase in the number of liquor outlets and extended opening hours of premises. Along with an increase in the total number of licensed premises, there was an increase in the numbers of licenses to sell takeaway alcohol.2 As a result, per capita consumption of pure alcohol in Australia grew rapidly in the 1970s (from an average of 9.3 litres in 1961 to a peak of 13.1 litres per person in 1974–75).3 Since then, state and territory liquor authorities have tried to offset this increasing liberalisation with new legislation to mitigate the harms caused by excessive alcohol consumption. This has contributed to the overall reduction in total per capita consumption of alcohol nationwide to around 10 litres of alcohol, but the Far North has not followed these trends. Per capita alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory remains high (14.35
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