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Speaker 1: We know, as you heard just a little bit earlier,

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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: Parliament sits for the first time in the Northern Tier.

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Speaker 1: I should say the last time, goodness, may I keep

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Speaker 1: thinking it's the beginning of the year, the last time

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Speaker 1: for twenty twenty four now. The Health Minister, Steve Edgington

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Speaker 1: said that the minimum unit price didn't work and scrapping

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Speaker 1: it was part of the colp's commitment to tackle the

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Speaker 1: scourge of alcohol related harm. The People's Alcohol Action coalitions

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Speaker 1: say the logic beggars belief. The coalition spokesperson, Doctor John

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Speaker 1: Boffer joins me on the line. Good morning, doctor Boffer,

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Speaker 1: Good Morrin Cavey, thanks so much for your time this morning. Now,

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Speaker 1: doctor Boffer, what exactly are your concerns here?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, firstly, we're very clear that if this flour

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Speaker 2: price is scrapped it will harm the populations on Churchy,

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Speaker 2: especially women and children. So it is working. It was

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Speaker 2: only ever set at a dollar thirty. Originally we wanted

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Speaker 2: a dollar fifty and by now it should have been

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Speaker 2: index so it should be at around a dollar seventy.

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Speaker 2: So by itself, it's not a magic bullet. It's not

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Speaker 2: going to solve the alcohol problems in Vale or any

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Speaker 2: other part of the chitory. But it is a really

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Speaker 2: important part of an overall approach to supply reduction and

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Speaker 2: to the inquiry into the tragic death of those four women.

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Speaker 2: That alcohol is one of the drivers of interpersonal violence

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Speaker 2: here in the Norman territory. And really she's called on

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Speaker 2: the government to do everything they can in terms of

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Speaker 2: evidence based supply reduction measures to have an impact on that,

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Speaker 2: and this is one of the key measures. Now we

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Speaker 2: shouldn't be scrapping it, we should be strengthening.

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Speaker 1: It, doctor Boffeer. We spoke to Marie Claire Boothby, the

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Speaker 1: Attorney General and also the Minister for Tourism a little

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Speaker 1: bit earlier this morning. She said that they are forging

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Speaker 1: ahead with it and the majority of territories should not

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Speaker 1: be punished for the minority doing the wrong thing. Just

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Speaker 1: take us through what evidence you think of demonstrates that

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Speaker 1: that floor price has worked. Well.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think I started off saying the evidence inceth

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Speaker 2: Australia since two thousand and six is very clear that

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Speaker 2: as you increase the minimum price, you have a very

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Speaker 2: significant impact in reducing hospital emissions for trauma, particularly for women,

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Speaker 2: and that's been clear prior to the introduction of the

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Speaker 2: two thousand and eighteen minimum price. So we effectively had

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Speaker 2: that in place here in cens Australia, and a lot

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Speaker 2: of the games had already been made. So when it

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Speaker 2: came in twenty eighteen, the big issue is what impact

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Speaker 2: would have in Darwin. So it dramatically dropped fifty percent

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Speaker 2: reduction in the sales as cheap dangerous wine. It reduced

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Speaker 2: assaults by round twelve percent general assaults. There wasn't statistically

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Speaker 2: significant impact on domestic and family violence. That's true, but

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Speaker 2: the researchers have pointed out that the data systems that

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Speaker 2: we have to capture the impact on domestic family violence

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Speaker 2: need to be improved. But I think the other and

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Speaker 2: this is a complex situation, and particularly as the floor

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Speaker 2: price was never set at the level that we wanted at,

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Speaker 2: which is a dollar fifty and by now with indexations,

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Speaker 2: should be a dollar seventy, so that it was effective

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Speaker 2: by some removing it.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Boffer were pressed for time unfortunately after that phone

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Speaker 1: drop out. But I do just want to ask you

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Speaker 1: when you look at the issues that we had in

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Speaker 1: Alice Springs last year following the lapsing of the stronger

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Speaker 1: Futures legislation. Are you concerned that we're going to see

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Speaker 1: a similar situation if this floor price is scrapped.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think it won't be as bad as

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Speaker 2: what happened with stronger futures because stronger futures was more

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Speaker 2: effective than the floor price. People in Daln will notice it.

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Speaker 2: If you bring alcohol back onto the market cheap in

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Speaker 2: the water, there'll be more drunk people more often throughout dawn.

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Speaker 2: There'll be more anti social behavior, there'll be more crime,

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Speaker 2: that's I think for certain, and that's what we'll see

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Speaker 2: sometimes to see the effections of something. It can be

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Speaker 2: hard to get good data to evaluate property, as I

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Speaker 2: just said, But if you remove it overnight, suddenly bang,

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Speaker 2: and we can't afford to do that. We've got to

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Speaker 2: stop saying, oh, whoop's got that wrong, because if we

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Speaker 2: get it wrong, we're talking about the lives of people

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Speaker 2: who are going to be affected by alcohol related harm,

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Speaker 2: and so we can't afford to get it wrong. And

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Speaker 2: I think it's the homan on the government to not

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Speaker 2: go ahead with this and to call a meeting of

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Speaker 2: government terrior to government comwell government, community sector, alcohol researchers,

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Speaker 2: bring the alcohol industry, bring mister hawk is now the

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Speaker 2: head of the Chief Minister's Department who was formerly the

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Speaker 2: Chief lawys and the industry. Bring them all around the

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Speaker 2: room and let's have it out and let's look at

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Speaker 2: the data and let's see what the evidence tells us

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Speaker 2: before we scrap something that's going to cause harm.

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Speaker 1: I think, do you mean Alex Bruce? Is that who

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Speaker 1: you meant? Yes, I tell you, well, oh look, we'll

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Speaker 1: wait and see exactly what they do. Do Doctor John Boffer,

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Speaker 1: I always appreciate your time. Thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us. And I'm not sure what

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Speaker 1: happened with that tech issue, but thanks for rejoining us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you,