00:02An empty club and a cool room with no beer.
00:05But now it's just here collecting dust and cobwebs.
00:08Need to get it open.
00:09One year ago, this place was a flurry of activity,
00:12as builders put the finishing touches on what was to become
00:16Wattair's first licensed venue in more than 30 years.
00:20Today, it's yet to pour its first drinks.
00:23Police and NT Health say they'll only give their final approval
00:27once violence in the community reaches an acceptable level.
00:30It's just having that perfect time to open it
00:32where you say, wow, there's no trouble in Wattair.
00:35Everything's all good.
00:36Well, we don't get times like that.
00:37Wattair is no oil painting.
00:39For right or wrong, there's always something exciting happening here.
00:42This is the Catch-22 of the Wattair Club.
00:45Its critics fear it will add fuel to the fire
00:47in a community beset by mass fights
00:50and where black market spirits go for hundreds,
00:53draining family budgets,
00:54while its proponents, like traditional owner Margaret Purgett,
00:58herself a non-drinker,
01:00think it could help address those very same problems.
01:03We want people to drink more quiet,
01:07you know, like a moderation drink.
01:10People working, when they finish work,
01:12they go to the club and sit down quiet.
01:15You know, instead of black marketing, spending a lot of money,
01:19but we need a club, a better place for people to drink.
01:25To break the impasse, the club's backers are now floating a six-week trial,
01:30with data collected on things like attendance,
01:33clinic presentations and DV call-outs.
01:36The police officer responsible for Wattair says
01:38if there were to be a trial, it would be important to get the timing right.
01:42I'd suggest that it would probably have to be longer than six weeks.
01:45I think to get some real data,
01:48it would have to be a bit more of a lengthy period
01:51so that we could actually give a proper evaluation.
01:56Loretta Mills, who runs school holiday programs,
01:59would prefer Wattair stays dry.
02:01I think it will make it worse.
02:03If it does open, it will be sad seeing kids outside the club,
02:08like asking for their parents for money,
02:11like we're hungry and they'll have nowhere to go.
02:16At the end of the day, if it's something that doesn't work,
02:19we're not going to just keep running it.
02:21We'll close it.
02:22The prospect of a compromise over a deeply controversial club.
