The chief minister is criticised by the First Nations justice commissioner for not listening to community concerns sooner and urged to quickly reinstate grog restrictions in and around Alice Springs.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner has thrown her support behind recommendations that takeaway alcohol bans be immediately reinstated in Indigenous communities across Central Australia.Member for Lingiari says a failure to do so could affect the NT's fundingThe freshly installed Regional Controller,
with recommending a way forward on alcohol policy in and around Alice Springs, following a serious uptick in crime and violence in the outback town.It reportedly recommends a return to blanket grog restrictions in First Nations communities. In a statement, social justice commissioner June Oscar said the recommendation that alcohol bans return was "consistent with community calls"."Limiting access to and consumption of alcohol in the Alice Springs region in the short term will provide communities with the breathing space they need to develop long-term solutions to the systemic problems which underpin the unrest," she said.
The commissioner said the Territory government had ignored the joint call from all major Aboriginal service groups in the NT to extend the bans, which"If governments had listened to and acted on the advice of community in Alice and beyond, a very different approach would have happened long ago," Ms Oscar said.
"In Alice, if community had been listened to before July 2022, then we would not be in the midst of the crisis we are witnessing right now."
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