Move to restrict the sale of alcohol in Broome and Derby

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Western Australia government plans to cap the sale of alcohol in the far north towns of Broome and Derby over concerns about alcohol-fuelled violence.

Transcript

00:00 This is the subject of a long-running inquiry by the Director of Liquor Licensing here in

00:06 Western Australia in response to years of alcohol-fuelled violence, domestic violence

00:11 and soaring suicide rates.

00:13 Essentially, the Director of Liquor Licensing announced yesterday a show-cause notice to

00:17 a number of licensees in Broome and Derby to ask them to show her why they should not

00:22 have their ability to sell alcohol further restricted than what it is currently.

00:27 So there are a number of restrictions currently in place in Broome and Derby about the sale

00:31 of alcohol, but she is planning to beef those up if the proposal is accepted.

00:37 So talk us through the restrictions that are being put in place.

00:41 No problem.

00:42 So around 30 licensees will be given until the 23rd of February to make their case about

00:48 whether they should be subject to these restrictions, and those include in Broome in particular,

00:54 we will be opening - bottle shops will only be allowed to be opened between midday and

00:58 7pm.

00:59 In Derby it's a little bit tougher.

01:01 They're looking to restrict the opening hours of bottle shops in Derby between - sorry,

01:05 on Mondays and Sundays, so actually stop them from opening altogether.

01:09 Purchase limits, so if you want to get a bottle - a carton of mid-strength or two bottles

01:14 of wine or a bottle of spirits.

01:16 So they're really cracking down on how much you can buy, as well as slowly phasing out

01:20 the ability of licensees to sell glass, which has been used in a number of alcohol-fuelled

01:24 assaults as a weapon of choice.

01:26 So they're looking to turn to other packaging methods and slowly introduce those to Broome

01:31 licensees and Derby licensees.

01:34 And how's the community reacted so far, Hannah?

01:38 As you can imagine, it is a mixed reaction here.

01:40 A number of locals do understand the need for further restrictions.

01:43 It's very easy to walk around places like Broome and see where alcohol is an intense

01:48 issue.

01:49 But there has also been the pushback from industry, saying, "We haven't given systems

01:54 like TAMS, which is the Takeaway Alcohol Management System, and the Banned Drinkers Register chance

01:59 to really do what they can do."

02:01 They were implemented really recently, and they have only just been in operation functionally

02:05 maybe for about a month or so.

02:07 So they're saying we really should be waiting for the outcome of those before we consider

02:10 imposing further restrictions, but they'll be making those submissions to the Director

02:14 of Liquor Licensing before February 23rd.

02:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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