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Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory Police in Jabbaru, well,

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Speaker 1: they seized a vehicle and the equivalent of two hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy standard drinks in an alleged grog running incident

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Speaker 1: late last week. Joining us on the line to tell

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Speaker 1: us a little bit more about it, I believe that

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Speaker 1: I've got Superintendent Brendan Muldoon from the Northern Territory Police.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you. Brendan.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much.

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Speaker 1: For your time this morning talk us through this seizure

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Speaker 1: that happened late last week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So, unfortunately, it's not an uncommon occurrence people taking

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Speaker 2: alcohol and their alcohol protected areas across the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: But on this particular incident, on the twenty second of

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Speaker 2: July to about nine forty at night, police conducting traffic

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Speaker 2: duties out near Javaru Way intercepted a Holden commodore. Four

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Speaker 2: occupants in the vehicle identified that they were from one

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Speaker 2: of the alcohol protected areas out in that region and

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Speaker 2: it's an Aboriginal community. So they after a few discussions,

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Speaker 2: identified that there was alcohol in the vehicle where they

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Speaker 2: are located. To curtains of alcohol, beer and several bottles

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Speaker 2: of whiskey.

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Speaker 1: And I understand that now there is a fifty one

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Speaker 1: year old the driver has, as I understand it, been

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Speaker 1: been arrested. Is that right?

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Speaker 2: So he was provided a notice to appear and not

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Speaker 2: arrested at the scene, but he'll attend court in relation

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Speaker 2: to transporting alcohol into an alcohol protected area. He's also

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Speaker 2: his vehicle was seized as a result under the Liquor

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Speaker 2: Act and a decision we made at some stage by

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Speaker 2: the court as to whether he forfeits that vehicle or

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Speaker 2: the vehicles returned him.

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Speaker 1: And this secondary supply of alcohol, I mean, it's something

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Speaker 1: that obviously see our territory police are pretty focused on

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Speaker 1: because you know, to those out there listening, we might

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Speaker 1: have some interstate listeners who are wondering, you know, why

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Speaker 1: this would be happening. But really, if people aren't able

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Speaker 1: to get their hands on alcohol, we see it a bit,

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Speaker 1: don't we. Within you know, someone who is able to

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Speaker 1: go and purchase that alcohol is purchasing it, trying to

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Speaker 1: take it out to a community and then on selling

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Speaker 1: it i'd imagine for a substantial amount of money.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so they do potentially sell it, on sell it,

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Speaker 2: but also they supply it to other family members as well.

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Speaker 2: But I mean, as you know, Northern Territory continues to

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Speaker 2: have the highest rates of alcohol related deaths across the country,

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Speaker 2: alcohol related diseases, single use of risky drinking behaviors, and

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Speaker 2: lifetime risky behaviors. It's a significant issue in the Northern Territory. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's been around a long time. You only need to

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Speaker 2: look at the Royley Review was conducted a couple of

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Speaker 2: years ago that highlights the systemic issues that we have

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory around alcohol.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and Brendan, how have things been going, you know

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Speaker 1: in terms of the police sort of trying to stop

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Speaker 1: this secondary supply and getting out on some of those

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Speaker 1: more remote roads I suppose, or more remote areas to

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Speaker 1: make sure that you are stopping it before it actually

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Speaker 1: reaches those communities.

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Speaker 2: Well, it is one of our targeted activities. And you'll

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Speaker 2: note there's been recent decisions by the liqu Commission around

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Speaker 2: certain venues that have been identified as contributing to the

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Speaker 2: issues that we have. It's quite clear during the COVID

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Speaker 2: lockdowns that we had in twenty twenty that we saw

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Speaker 2: when the biosecurity zones were around for our remote areas.

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Speaker 2: We saw significant reductions in issues in remote communities, particularly

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Speaker 2: around alcol whole related stuff. So we actually had five

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Speaker 2: year lows in relation to alcohol related issues during that time.

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Speaker 2: But unfortunately, as soon as we came out of that

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Speaker 2: lockdown and the alcohol was able to flow into those

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Speaker 2: areas again, we went from five year lows to five

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Speaker 2: year high. So significant issues around alcohol and when they're consumed,

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Speaker 2: not the unvetted, unvetted access to alcohol and it's messages.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and I know that there had been quite

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Speaker 1: a bit of reporting sort of you know, after the

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Speaker 1: COVID lockdown and then when some of those sort of

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Speaker 1: payments had flowed through about you know, just how much

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Speaker 1: some people were selling alcohol for in some of our

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Speaker 1: remote communities. I know the police Commissioner had spoken about

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Speaker 1: it publicly on a few occasions. So it is certainly

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Speaker 1: something that we grapple with in the territory. But I

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Speaker 1: know that our police do as much as possible to

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Speaker 1: try to really stamp it out.

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Speaker 2: Yep, we do. We're consistently targeting these tops of issues

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Speaker 2: and you know, it's preventing harm at the end of

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Speaker 2: the day, and that's our main reason for doing it

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Speaker 2: to prevent to vulnerable people in these communities, generally women

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Speaker 2: and children.

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Speaker 1: Well, Brendan Muldoon, Superintendent Brendan Muldoon with the Northern Territory Police,

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Speaker 1: we really appreciate you coming on this morning and telling

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Speaker 1: us a bit more about that seizure near Jabaru. We'll

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Speaker 1: talk to you again soon, no doubt.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: It is