NT couple says the law treats them very differently

[davidc4430]

When it comes to buying alcohol in Alice Springs, this NT couple says the law treats them very differently

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-10/nt-police-stations-at-bottle-shops-racist-but-effective-policy...

2017 and white laws are treating aborginals like criminals still

[lyndal1838]

But you have to admit that alcohol is a major problem in the Aboriginal community....even their own elders admit that.

Surely any actions that may help to curb the problem should be considered.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that the responsible members of the community are going to get caught up in the application of the rules.

[davidc4430]

i think alcohol is a major problem full stop, it doesnt stop at aboriginals.

a no aboriginal can drink and break laws and then drink again as often as they like, they dont have to be grilled by a cop when buying another carton or bottle

double standards

apply a law accross the board in my view.

plenty of alcohol problems do not involve aboriginals, we just get told about the aboriginals way more often.

[this-one-time-at-bandcamp]

"They're racist, there's some doubt about their lawfulness, but even more importantly than those two negative things, they're highly effective," Mr Goldflam said.

In that case, why not simply ban the indigenous peoples from coming down town? That would be even more effective.

[springyzone]

I read this:

The NT is the only jurisdiction in Australia where police are permanently stationed outside bottle shops to prevent problem drinkers accessing alcohol, and to stop people bringing liquor into town camps.

It is a policy that's deeply unpopular with the NT Police Association, who have railed against being posted as security guards to enforce government policy, even after the return last week of the Banned Drinkers Register (BDR).

The register requires all people purchasing liquor at bottle shops to have their photo identification scanned, and people listed on the register — those who have committed alcohol-related offences or have nominated themselves to be listed because they have a drinking problem — will be refused service.

"We've been calling for the removal of police from temporary beat locations for some time, so now the BDR is back we want to see police off those bottle shops as soon as possible," said Paul Mc Cue, President of the NT Police Association.

__________________

My view would be this.

*NT obviously has an enormous problem with alcohol abuse & without beating around the bush, aborigines are some of the biggest offenders. I know of several young aboriginal children in foster homes & suffering from foetal alcohol syndrome. So it is an ongoing problem.

I'm not trying to cast a moral or racial judgement as such, I believe this alcohol abuse is part of a cycle of generational poverty/unemployment and until that cycle is broken, the problems will continue. Throwing welfare money won't help-only breaking into that cycle with explicit education will help.(& that goes for anyone in that lifestyle cycle, not just aborigines)

* Police should not be stationed outside bottle shops & put in a position of deciding  who can & can't buy, based purely on looks. That is inapproriate and doesn't always target the right people anyway.

*The banned drinkers register is an excellent idea. It is racially non discriminatory or should be. It is targeting the actual problem drinkers. Anyone at all who has committed an alcohol related offence or nominated themselves would come up on the scanning and could not buy more. In fact, i think it would be excellent to have this scheme in place all over Australia, where people buying alcohol had their licence or whatever scanned.

* I realise offenders could ask friends to buy for them but at least it would make it one step more difficult.

[lyndal1838]

While I agree that having the Police standing guard on the liquor stores is inappropriate there needs to be some kind of security for the shop owners/staff.

Problem drinkers can turn very violent if they don't get their alcohol....why else are they called problem drinkers.  Why should the shop staff be put at risk by having to enforce what must be a very unpopular law with those problem drinkers who are on the register.

And I also don't think the shop owners should have to employ private security guards either....those costs would have to be built into the costs of doing business and everyone would pay for the actions of a few.

[chameleon54]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

i think alcohol is a major problem full stop, it doesnt stop at aboriginals.

a no aboriginal can drink and break laws and then drink again as often as they like, they dont have to be grilled by a cop when buying another carton or bottle

double standards

apply a law accross the board in my view.

plenty of alcohol problems do not involve aboriginals, we just get told about the aboriginals way more often.

---

Theres some truth to what you say, but as Lyndal has already mentioned, alcohol abuse IS a huge problem in many aboriginal communities.

My sister worked for a decade in the Alice Springs aboriginal community and another ten years in other more remote aboriginal communities. She is now a senior public servent, involved in administration and policy development for aboriginal health. Her work in Alice Springs initially involved working with the huge numbers of young kids and teenagers, permenantly brain damaged by feotal alcohol syndrome and she then moved on to run a womans shelter for alcohol related, domestic violence victims and woman who where affected by over consumption of alcohol. She would drive around at night in a "troopie", rescuing the woman from violent situations involving aggresive partners or drive the shanties and river beds, collecting parylitic woman and taking them to the safety of the shelter.

She felt it was like a war zone at times with many of the problems related to crazy levels of alcohol consuption, along with drug abuse and solvent sniffing.

This is another example of where it is very easy for the closeted, cloistered socialists, sitting in arm chairs in the lounge to express outrage at what is happening in the real world. For those on the front line dealing daily with sexually abused children, brain damaged teenagers and battered woman, life is not quite so simple and answers are not always perfect.