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Speaker 1: A move to scrap the minimum floor price in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory is going to be debated this week as

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Speaker 1: the government well plans to remove the legislation, which was

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Speaker 1: introduced a while back in an effort to stop problem

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Speaker 1: drinkers accessing cheap alcohol. The Health Minister, Steve Edgington, made

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Speaker 1: the announcement earlier in the week and said the minimum

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Speaker 1: unit price didn't work and scrapping it was part of

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Speaker 1: the colp's commitment to tackle the scourge of alcohol related harm.

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Speaker 1: Now not everyone agrees. The People's Alcohol Action Coalition says

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Speaker 1: it's difficult to understand why a government whose top priority

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Speaker 1: is supposedly to lower crime rates, including domestic violence, would

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Speaker 1: remove the minimum unit price. Now the legislation falls under

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Speaker 1: the Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, Marie Claire Boothby, who

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Speaker 1: joins me on the line. Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie and to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, why

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Speaker 1: is the government scrapping the floor price?

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, this was an election commitment that we took

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Speaker 2: to the election and we believe that it's no good

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Speaker 2: to punish all Territorians who do the right thing, because

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Speaker 2: those that can't drink responsibility responsibly actually are still drinking

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Speaker 2: more than they ever were before. I mean, you only

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Speaker 2: have to look at the alcohol related assaults over the

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Speaker 2: last year eight years under labor where we've had a

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Speaker 2: territory wide increase of thirty eight percent, and in Parmesan

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Speaker 2: where I live, it's increased by one hundred and forty percent.

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Speaker 2: I mean, those numbers speak volumes. And the fact of

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Speaker 2: the matter is that the minimum floor price, which Labour

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Speaker 2: said just hasn't worked.

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Speaker 1: Because the People's Alcohol Action Coalition sees that it beggars

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Speaker 1: belief that the government's plan to legislate away the floor

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Speaker 1: price was an Outstoll Monday, the same day as the

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Speaker 1: NT Coroner handed down her findings on the alcohol fueled

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Speaker 1: homicides of for Aboriginal women. Are you concerned the loosening

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Speaker 1: of any alcohol related legislation could have adverse impacts. I

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Speaker 1: mean we saw that in Alice Springs when the Stronger

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Speaker 1: Futures legislation ended at the beginning of last year.

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Speaker 2: So Katie, what we know is that people are not

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Speaker 2: drinking less. In fact, what they've done with the introduction

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Speaker 2: of the floor price is they've changed from drinking cask

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Speaker 2: wines that are in soft boxes and moved to hard spirits,

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Speaker 2: which of course has a higher alcohol content. And those

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Speaker 2: hard spirits are in glass bottles, and we have found

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Speaker 2: that those glass bottles end up being weapons when they

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Speaker 2: are consumed and they're empty, and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 2: there's domestic violence, there's alcohol related harm that happens not

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Speaker 2: only in people's homes but in the public arena, and

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Speaker 2: those glass bottles end up smashed everywhere. And you only

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Speaker 2: have to walk around the streets to see the change

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Speaker 2: in what used to be sort of soft silver pillows

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Speaker 2: around the place, and now we have smashed glass bottles.

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Speaker 2: So clearly it's not working. And when it comes to

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Speaker 2: the price of alcohol, it's not a barrier for people

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Speaker 2: who want to drink. And we know, I want to

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Speaker 2: act to say alcohol. We know that the going rate

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Speaker 2: of bundy rum in what air there is around five

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Speaker 2: hundred dollars KDE, and that's incredible, like to think that

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Speaker 2: it's definitely not that price on the shelf when you

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Speaker 2: go a bottle shop, and remember the peak demand it

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Speaker 2: said that it was twelve hundred dollars a bottle, so

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Speaker 2: you know, when you're looking at the average wages in

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Speaker 2: what Air as an example, to be about one thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars a week, If they're spending that amount of money

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Speaker 2: on bottles of hard spirits, which are glass bottles, it

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Speaker 2: just doesn't make any sense. And we're all about making

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Speaker 2: sure that we focus on the demand of alcohol. And

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Speaker 2: unfortunately the minimum four price. While they tried to bring

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Speaker 2: it in, and they brought it in with a host

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Speaker 2: of other measures, it clearly has not worked. We know

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Speaker 2: that hard spirits, the consumption of hard spirits has gone up,

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Speaker 2: and that just means that this hasn't been working.

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Speaker 1: Look, I guess the difficulty we've got is we know

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory that there are so many issues

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Speaker 1: when it comes to alcohol and alcohol fuel violence. I

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Speaker 1: mean the coronial findings from earlier in the week demonstrate

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Speaker 1: that as well. But we also, as I mentioned earlier,

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Speaker 1: we saw at the beginning of last year when the

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Speaker 1: Stronger Futures legislation lapsed tratorians where they're like, well, do

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Speaker 1: you know what the majority of us do the right thing?

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Speaker 1: Why are we all being punished? But then what I

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Speaker 1: worry about is the ramifications and if we might see

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Speaker 1: a real increase in alcohol fueled violence as a result

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Speaker 1: of the scrapping of this floor price. So what do

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Speaker 1: you say to territorians that are concerned.

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Speaker 2: About that, Katie, It's the same argument. I mean, the

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Speaker 2: fact that people are still accessing alcohol and price is

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Speaker 2: not the barrier here. If they can't afford it, then

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Speaker 2: they find a way to get it. And that's even

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Speaker 2: worse because that means that they're actually people who are

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Speaker 2: really dependent on alcohol will break into houses or businesses

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Speaker 2: to get that alcohol. So the floor price that is

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Speaker 2: not making a difference in our community. Otherwise we would

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Speaker 2: have seen a reduction in alcohol related harm and we

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Speaker 2: would have seen a huge reduction in alcohol presentations to

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Speaker 2: the hospital, which it's actually been quite the opposite. And

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Speaker 2: we you know, it's an approach where we know it's

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Speaker 2: not working because otherwise it would have seen a reduction.

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Speaker 2: We know it's not working because people are drinking more

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Speaker 2: hard spirits than they were before. So we don't want

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Speaker 2: everyone to be punished by having to pay those floor prices,

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Speaker 2: and just because of the problems of a few people

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Speaker 2: like it's really important to focus on the demand of alcohol,

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Speaker 2: and that's where the previous government just didn't want to

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Speaker 2: look at that. They were always looking at how do

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Speaker 2: we try and restrict alcohol being sold in the territory

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Speaker 2: and how do we restrict everybody not being able to

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Speaker 2: get their hands on alcohol? And that just doesn't work,

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Speaker 2: and so we need to make sure that not only

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Speaker 2: are we making territorian's life easier the ones that are

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Speaker 2: doing the right thing, but also making sure that we

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Speaker 2: focus on those that are doing the wrong thing. And

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Speaker 2: that's why we introduced the laws that we did in

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Speaker 2: our first inttings of Parliament to give police more powers

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Speaker 2: to deal with the news and drinkers, and of course

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Speaker 2: they can find, charge or arrest them where they are

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Speaker 2: drinking in prohibited areas. And it's also why we're looking

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Speaker 2: at those root causes of alcohol misuse. We absolutely need

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Speaker 2: to look at the rehabilitation of alcoholics because all that

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Speaker 2: does is cause misery for themselves and other people. When

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Speaker 2: if we can get them into a program and a

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Speaker 2: facility where they're not being able to harm themselves or

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Speaker 2: others around them, that's where we can actually make the

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Speaker 2: difference to reduce that alcohol related harm.

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Speaker 1: So are we're going to see an increase in the

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Speaker 1: numbers of boosting of rehabilitation services.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's the work that Steve Edgington, the Health

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Speaker 2: Minister and Alcohol Minister, and myself as the churism hospitality

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Speaker 2: where the regulations for alcohol seats. That's the work we're

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Speaker 2: doing right now to try and find those facilities that

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Speaker 2: we can use, get the right programs in place. There's

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Speaker 2: a whole raft of things that need to be looked

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Speaker 2: at here. But at the end of the day, this

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Speaker 2: was a commitment we made to territori in so that

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Speaker 2: we would scrap the minimum flaw price. That's exactly what

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Speaker 2: we're doing and there's an expectation that it's going to

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Speaker 2: be done.

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Speaker 1: And I mean there is serious concerns so being raised

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Speaker 1: here by you know, by health experts. You have got

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Speaker 1: those that work as alcohol researchers really urging you to

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Speaker 1: reconsider this. But it doesn't sound like that is going

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Speaker 1: to be the case. It sounds as the government is

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Speaker 1: going to forge your head. So what are the next steps?

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Speaker 1: Is it going to pass through? Is the legislative change

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Speaker 1: going to pass through parliament this week or just be debated?

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Speaker 1: How quickly is it going to happen?

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, this legislation will be introduced tomorrow into Parliament

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Speaker 2: and then it will sit on the notice papers so

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Speaker 2: to speak, for right through over the Christmas period until February,

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Speaker 2: which is our next sittings after Christmas. So that will

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Speaker 2: mean that whilst we took it to the election, there

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Speaker 2: was widespread consultation with industry but also territorians and all

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Speaker 2: of those groups that you mentioned. It'll be another round

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Speaker 2: of being able to do that. People will be able

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Speaker 2: to have their say, they'll be able to talk to

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Speaker 2: me and write to me about that. But we're really

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Speaker 2: serious about our election commitments, which is to reduce crime

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Speaker 2: and to restore our territory lifestyle and you know, having

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Speaker 2: a beer with your mates at the end of the

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Speaker 2: day on a Friday, or having a wine with dinner.

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Speaker 2: I mean, these are the Territorians that they do the

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Speaker 2: right thing, they're responsible, and yet they're being punished by

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Speaker 2: having increased prices of their alcohol when it's only the

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Speaker 2: few that have problems with drinking and cause so much

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Speaker 2: harm to our community. And it's those people that we

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Speaker 2: need to focus on so that.

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Speaker 1: We're right, Minister. Before I let you go in your portfolios,

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Speaker 1: obviously with tourism and also hospitality. We know that we

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Speaker 1: were speaking earlier in the week about the cost of

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Speaker 1: airfares and the fact that the airport are looking to

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Speaker 1: increase their fees and the impact that that may then

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Speaker 1: have on the cost of airline tickets. It was an

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Speaker 1: issue that was raised by ABC's state line. Are you

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Speaker 1: working with or have you now spoken to the Airport

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Speaker 1: Development Group about this? And are you worried that this

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Speaker 1: is going to see those already sky high airfare costs

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Speaker 1: go up even.

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Speaker 2: Further, Katief, I am worried, and Territorians are also worried.

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Speaker 2: I mean airline prices. Airfare prices has been a long

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Speaker 2: time battle for Territorians. You know, when you want to

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Speaker 2: cut away for Christmas, unless you book sort of six

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Speaker 2: months in advance, it's really difficult to get in and

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Speaker 2: out of here, not only with the prices, but also

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Speaker 2: that the flight times. When we were elected in August,

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Speaker 2: we made a very deliberate change to the aviation portfolio.

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Speaker 2: Used to sit under the Tourism Minister and the Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister changed that to now sit under the Minister for Business,

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Speaker 2: Trade and Asian Relations. The reason for that is because

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Speaker 2: of course aviation is far more reaching than just tourism.

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Speaker 2: Like it's also very business centric. I mean we've got

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Speaker 2: businesses that set up here and they need to have

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Speaker 2: airfares that allow their staff to be able to fly

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Speaker 2: in and out if they've moved here from elsewhere. And

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Speaker 2: you know there's even you know, operations like Minds and

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Speaker 2: things that rely heavily on aviation. So with the Minister,

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Speaker 2: Minister Carl who's responsible for that now, I know that

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Speaker 2: she has been fiercely speaking with all of those stakeholders,

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Speaker 2: including the Airport Development Group and the airlines. The Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister herself has been involved in some of those meetings

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Speaker 2: as well myself as the Tourism Minister. Whilst it's not

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Speaker 2: specifically under my portfolio, now I take it very seriously

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Speaker 2: because there is a huge impact to the tourism industry.

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Speaker 2: So I to him in those meetings most of the time,

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Speaker 2: and it's all about just looking at it from a

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Speaker 2: different perspective, having more people at the table and we're

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Speaker 2: having those convers stations because we do need to keep

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Speaker 2: the airlines accountable and we do need to keep the

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Speaker 2: Airport Development Group accountable as well, so that we can

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Speaker 2: ensure that Territorians are not being gouged when they're booking

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Speaker 2: their flights.

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Speaker 1: Are they all just being greedy?

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Speaker 2: Look, I wouldn't say that. I don't know exactly they're

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Speaker 2: reasoning behind some of these changes that they're looking to make.

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, we all need

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Speaker 2: to work together as a government in these different ministry

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Speaker 2: roles to make sure that we keep these airlines and

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Speaker 2: the airport's accountable to say, look, this impacts everybody, like

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Speaker 2: every single Territorian is impacted when the flights prices increase

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Speaker 2: like they have and we can't accept it. We need

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Speaker 2: to keep pushing back on them and to tell them

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Speaker 2: that they need to find ways to make it affordable.

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Speaker 2: And that's exactly what we're doing.

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Speaker 1: Well. Attorney General and Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, Marie

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Speaker 1: Claire Boothby, really appreciate your time this morning. I know

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Speaker 1: it's to be day in Parliament. Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you you too.