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Speaker 1: Last week we heard concerns raised by Tourism Central Australia

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Speaker 1: about the impact they say that alcohol restrictions are having

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Speaker 1: on tourism in the Red Center. As you'll recall, the

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Speaker 1: restrictions were implemented last year after some really serious issues

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Speaker 1: experienced with crime, domestic violence, property crime in the town

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Speaker 1: when the Stronger Futures legislation ended. Now, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress,

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Speaker 1: or Congress as they're commonly known, has congratulated the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory Government on the progress of its evidence based restrictions

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Speaker 1: on alcohol in Alice Springs, with figures showing that they

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Speaker 1: have led to a considerable reduction in alcohol sales and consumption,

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Speaker 1: a major reduction in crime, including domestic and family violence,

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Speaker 1: and reduced alcohol related hospital presentations. Now Congress Chief Executive

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Speaker 1: Officer Donna Rchi joins me on the line. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Donna, Good morning Cody. Donna. How have things

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Speaker 1: been going in Alice Springs since those restrictions were implemented.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think that there has been a dramatic

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Speaker 2: improvement in alcohol related anti social behavior and harm. Of course,

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Speaker 2: we've still got you know, that more difficult area in

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Speaker 2: terms of dealing with young people, but in that space

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Speaker 2: as well, I think that there's been some improvements in

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Speaker 2: that regard in the last over the summer period. But

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Speaker 2: just to pick up on your point around the considerable

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Speaker 2: reduction in alcohol. So what we saw there in terms

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Speaker 2: of consumption is a twenty five percent reduction in the

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Speaker 2: third quarter of twenty twenty three compared with the same

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Speaker 2: period in twenty twenty two. Alcohol related domestic violence assaults

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Speaker 2: down by forty two percent. This is based on data

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Speaker 2: comparing months prior to the regulations with months after the

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Speaker 2: regulations were implemented. All alcohol related assaults down by forty

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Speaker 2: two percent. So you know, I like, these are dramatic

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Speaker 2: improvements and what that means in the context of the

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Speaker 2: amenity of the town. We are much safer than we

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Speaker 2: were when the Stronger Futures legislation was lifted. And look,

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Speaker 2: I'll also say up front that you know, alcohol regulations

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Speaker 2: won't solve all of Alice Springs issues, but we have

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Speaker 2: to acknowledge they are essential to keeping people safe.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me Donna in terms of things like property crime,

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Speaker 1: because I know when you know, when we're at the

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Speaker 1: height of this towards the beginning of last year. I know,

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Speaker 1: even your home was targeted. There were so many different people,

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Speaker 1: so many territorians, all in Springs, residents who were really, really,

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Speaker 1: really concerned about what was going on. When you talk

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Speaker 1: about that property crime, it sounds as though there may

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Speaker 1: be hasn't been too many inroads made.

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Speaker 2: What's your take, Well, look, the data shows that it's

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Speaker 2: down by thirteen percent, so we can't we're not suggesting

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Speaker 2: that it can be removed completely, although there have been improvements,

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Speaker 2: and I'm not, you know, anecdotally along with the actual

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Speaker 2: data itself. It's not necessarily the talking in my sort

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Speaker 2: of movements around how like, it's not like that's coming

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Speaker 2: up as a key issue for people you do here.

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Speaker 2: You know that there have been breakings here and there,

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Speaker 2: but not to the extent it was when the town

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Speaker 2: was out of control, Like it was totally out of control.

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Speaker 2: Like you say, I was affected by it and I

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Speaker 2: experienced that, and it was you know, we all were

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Speaker 2: feeling it in our Springs. But you know, you know,

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Speaker 2: he's got to look out the window when you look

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Speaker 2: at this data and see what the improvements in and

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Speaker 2: remember what it was like at the end of twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two.

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Speaker 1: So Donald, what do you make of the discussions that

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Speaker 1: are being had, you know, the likes of Tourism Central

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Speaker 1: Australia writing to the Chief Minister and asking whether those

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Speaker 1: restrictions can potentially be looked at even for a trial

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Speaker 1: period because of the impact that it's having on tourism.

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't accept that it impacts on tourists. Tourists.

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Speaker 2: Tourists do not come to beautiful Central Australia and our

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Speaker 2: springs to drink. I'm sorry, but they do not come

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Speaker 2: here to drink. They come here to look at the

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Speaker 2: beautiful landscape, experience Aboriginal culture and engage with Aboriginal people

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Speaker 2: on the ground. Like I just don't. I'm sorry, but

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Speaker 2: I just can't accept that tourists come here to drink.

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Speaker 2: Tourists can still, you know, get this is what we're

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Speaker 2: talking about here is take away alcohol. Now, take away

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Speaker 2: alcohol is what's causing the harm. So tourists can still

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Speaker 2: you know, get a drink to eat, you know when

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Speaker 2: they when they're sorry, drink to eat. You have a

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Speaker 2: drink when they're when they're sitting down having their meals

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Speaker 2: and that sort of thing. Or go to a to

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Speaker 2: a on site license. It's you know, we've got to

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Speaker 2: start thinking about what does it mean for us as

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Speaker 2: individuals in terms of the better good of the town

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Speaker 2: and surrounding communities as a whole. That's what we've got

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Speaker 2: to start asking ourselves and thinking about. And I just

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Speaker 2: I reject that the tourists might come here to drink.

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Speaker 2: I just don't accept it.

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Speaker 1: Obviously I'm not based there, honor, so I don't know,

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Speaker 1: you know, how well it is or isn't working. All

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Speaker 1: I can go off is the conversations I have, and

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Speaker 1: you know, the numbers that Congress, for example, have released,

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Speaker 1: and it does seem as though it's having an impact.

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Speaker 1: But then I guess on the other side of things,

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Speaker 1: you go, well, everybody's kind of having to live with

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Speaker 1: these restrictions as a result of, you know, of some

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Speaker 1: members of the community doing the wrong thing. Is you know,

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Speaker 1: is it sort of a fair way to continue to

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Speaker 1: do things? Or do you reckon? At some point there

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Speaker 1: is going to have to be a review.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, if it's working, if we want to go

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Speaker 2: back to what it was like at the end of

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, if that's what people want, you know,

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Speaker 2: for us to live here, all of us Aboriginal, non aboriginal. Well,

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Speaker 2: then you know, reconsider the regulations. But I from Congress's perspective,

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Speaker 2: we're saying, don't lift them, because if you lift them,

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Speaker 2: we're actually going to end up on the front page.

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Speaker 2: We're going to be going to have national international media

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Speaker 2: attention like we did back in twenty twenty two. We're

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Speaker 2: also going to see decreasing tourism. And more importantly for

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Speaker 2: us is that it's going to make us make it

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Speaker 2: harder for us to recruit workers to this town. We're

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Speaker 2: already experieneriencing that and that's not peculiar just to Alice

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Speaker 2: Springs or remote areas across the country about shortage of

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Speaker 2: workforce across the country. But this will just make it

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Speaker 2: even harder. So I get it, like you have to

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Speaker 2: give up some individual freedom, but I think this individual

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Speaker 2: freedom is worth it in terms of what it means

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Speaker 2: for the town and surrounding communities for all of us.

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Speaker 2: Don have you original mod this for all of us?

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Speaker 1: Have you heard much about the government's announcement last week?

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Speaker 1: We were just talking to the Minister for Police about

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Speaker 1: this a little earlier today. Brent potter about the changes

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Speaker 1: to those palis on bottle shops. So they are obviously

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Speaker 1: able to now conduct or be part of a program

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Speaker 1: where they can then transition to constables. There were some

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Speaker 1: concerns raised that it would potentially mean that there'd be

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Speaker 1: less palies on those bottle shops. The Minister has now

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Speaker 1: said that there will be that there will be licensing

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Speaker 1: inspectors on the bottle shops. How big an impact of

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Speaker 1: those pallys have on the bottle shop and in terms

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Speaker 1: of people purchasing alcohol from your perspective, Well.

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Speaker 2: They go hand in hand with the actual takeaway regulations,

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Speaker 2: so you can't have one without the other. I think

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Speaker 2: that they make it work. So we've got to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we continue to have that coverage in terms

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Speaker 2: of the outlets that sell take away alcohol. Otherwise, again,

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Speaker 2: what we're going to what we'll see is that we're

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Speaker 2: absolutely going to see and increase in in takeaway sales

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Speaker 2: and as a consequence, an increase in consumption and as

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Speaker 2: a consequence of that increasing harm and anti social behavior.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like you are still pretty concerned that if

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Speaker 1: things do change with these alcohol restrictions, that it could

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Speaker 1: have quite a monumental impactolute.

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Speaker 2: Ute, Katie. I'm really worried that if these current regulations

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Speaker 2: are lifted then we will go back to what it

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Speaker 2: was like back in twenty twenty two. We might not

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Speaker 2: see it immediately, but I tell you what, you know,

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Speaker 2: as the evidence shows that as soon as you turn

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Speaker 2: that tap on, we will see an increasing consumption and

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Speaker 2: a correlating increasing alcohol related harm and especially around domestic violence.

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Speaker 1: Donna, can I just as quickly. I mean you touched

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Speaker 1: on this right at the start of the interview and

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Speaker 1: it's something that we have seen, even reported in the

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Speaker 1: Australian newspaper a couple of weeks ago. Some of the

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Speaker 1: terrible situations that you are still experiencing in Alice, with

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Speaker 1: youths engaging in in crime, stolen vehicles and fights in

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Speaker 1: the streets. I mean, like it must be difficult, you know,

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Speaker 1: it must be really difficult for locals having to go

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Speaker 1: through this kind of thing. We've spoken about on numerous occasions.

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Speaker 1: What needs to happen.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, we you know, and I've heard previous police

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Speaker 2: commissioners talk about this, about the need to address the

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Speaker 2: very complex issues that lead young people to being on

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Speaker 2: the streets. So you know, growing poverty and inequality. Look

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Speaker 2: a look at the current debate that's going on around

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Speaker 2: cost of living. So just imagine what that's like with

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Speaker 2: a population that lives in poverty. And this is a

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Speaker 2: big driver of breakings and property crime. When we look

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Speaker 2: at adverse childhal experience, some of it is alcohol related

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Speaker 2: and can lead to young people with very challenging behaviors.

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Speaker 2: So what we need is sustained action to address intergenerational trauma, poverty, inequality,

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Speaker 2: poor education, and discrimination. And so one of the one

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Speaker 2: of the strategies that Congress has been advocating for, as

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Speaker 2: in a sort of like an immediate response to this,

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Speaker 2: is for a long term secure care rehabilitation facility traumatized

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Speaker 2: young kids who have ongoing contact with the Youth Justice

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Speaker 2: since this system and to make it mandatory that it's

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Speaker 2: therapeutic and it's secure with highly skilled workers, that it

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Speaker 2: also involves reconnecting with education, training as well as family

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Speaker 2: and their culture, and it needs to be a minimum

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Speaker 2: of six months, as trauma takes time to heal. So

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Speaker 2: that's just one strategy of a number of strategies that

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Speaker 2: we've been advocating for. But look, it's it's a. It's

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Speaker 2: it's a multi pronged approach that we need to do

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Speaker 2: and it all needs to happen simultaneously. We know that

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Speaker 2: we've got overcrowding in Aboriginal communities. We know that there

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Speaker 2: needs to be more investment to deal with the overcrowding.

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Speaker 2: I think we looked at some data once and with

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Speaker 2: the current investment in housing, if you were to maintain

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Speaker 2: that investment that's currently being distributed, it would take seventy

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Speaker 2: years to deal with the overcrowding in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: of Aboriginal people. So it not only needs what's currently invested.

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Speaker 2: There needs to be further investments in housing and overcrowding

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Speaker 2: to address the other crowding issues. So, and this impacts

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Speaker 2: on young people. It impacts on early childhood. You know,

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Speaker 2: we need kids to be you know, going to school,

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Speaker 2: have had a good night's sleep, you know, not living

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Speaker 2: in poverty. You know, all those things that we know

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Speaker 2: make a difference to a child's life and put them

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Speaker 2: on a trajectory to be able to, you know, participate

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Speaker 2: in the education system.

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Speaker 1: Well, Donna, the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Chief Executive Officer,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk again soon