Paige Taylor

A remote West Australian town is pleading for an emergency contingent of police officers and paramedics in anticipation of a surge in violence when thousands of ­local residents are taken off the scrapped cashless debit card by the Albanese government as early as September.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders in Laverton – one of the debit card’s main trial sites in WA’s northern goldfields – have told The Australian the card has ensured children have been fed and clothed, and they fear what will happen when the scheme officially ends.

“We wanted to explain all that to the government before they took the card away because it’s the only thing in 30 years that has made any difference.”

Mr Hill has told the state Labor government that Laverton will need an influx of frontline workers to cope with the return to 100 per cent cash welfare payments.

“We are going to need more of those people; police, paramedics, hospital workers,” he said.

Wongatha elder Janice Scott – who established a residents group in Laverton in 2016 out of concern for the welfare of local children – said the cashless debit card was ­not perfect but it had made a difference in Laverton.

“The biggest difference was for the kids. Suddenly they had food, they had clothing,” she said. “People used to throw rocks on my roof in the middle of the night saying ‘I’m hungry’ and that stopped. They had food at home.”

(Dalgarno Institute Comments – Some of membership in the N.T. are already expressing real concern, as some indigenous kids are fearful of being picked up by their drunken parents after school, creating a fresh wave of anxiety and distress for these kids. If #childrenand #mentalhealthmatters in the #community then these ‘ideologically’ driven thoughtless measures need a quick an thorough rethink)  

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Indigenous Call for a Return of Alcohol Bans

AMOS AIKMAN

The Northern Territory government’s refusal to maintain Intervention-era grog bans is undermining one of its own best measures for stopping alcohol-fuelled violence, say experts who have urged the government to rethink.

The scheme has been credited with a swift drop in alcohol fuelled and domestic violence in places such as Alice Springs.

Allowing grog bans to lapse in about 400 communities and outstations means people living there can buy booze again.

Donna Ah Chee, head of the health service Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, says her organisation’s clinics have been struggling to cope with more intoxicated patients on top of an already-crippling pandemic burden, since the alcohol rules changed on July 17.

The emergency response (dubbed the Intervention) was opposed by many Indigenous groups that were concerned about discriminatory policy. Ironically, some of those groups are at the forefront of arguing for the Intervention-era grog bans to be reinstated.

A coalition including Aboriginal Medical Alliance Services NT, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency wrote to Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on June 9.

In their six-page letter, they argued the provisions were “not …racist or negative discrimination”. “Rather, they are … positive and beneficial special measures in keeping with the High Court’s latest definition,” they wrote.

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles insisted in parliament this week that her government’s decision to scrap the grog bans was based on consultation with “hundreds” of communities.

Sources in the Aboriginal community service sector denied this and said they believed the government acted on an incorrect legal interpretation.

Ms Fyles spokeswoman said her government “cannot extend a commonwealth law, nor will we support paternalistic policies which criminalise Aboriginal communities”. The government has not answered requests to provide evidence about its consultation process or to show the changes are not causing harm.

Opposition domestic violence spokesman Steve Edgington said levels of domestic violence were “unacceptably high”, up 42 per cent since 2016.

“The catastrophic increase in domestic violence across the Territory under Labor’s watch has got to stop,” he said. “Unlike Labor, we will always put the rights of victims above those of offenders. The Fyles government has failed Territorians and failed to keep them safe. In Alice Springs last week, police  reported 54 cases of domestic violence over a 48-hour period.”

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This is our voice: tackle grog and violence

SARAH ISON JESS MALCOLM

Remote Australia’s Aboriginal female MPs have united to demand the nation tackle domestic violence and alcoholism ravaging Indigenous communities, with Labor’s Marion

Scrymgour likening the removal of grog bans to “pulling forces out of Afghanistan”.

…Senator Price and Ms Scrymgour – who are both based in Alice Springs – were united on a tough approach to alcohol fuelled violence affecting Indigenous women in the red centre.

Ms Scrymgour, who was elected to the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari in May, said grog ban measures in place for 14 years since John Howard’s Intervention could not suddenly be

revoked with no plan on how to manage the fallout. 

“When a government puts a protective regime of that kind in place, and leaves it in place for that long, you can’t just suddenly pull the pin on it without any protection, sanctuary or plan for the vulnerable women and children whom the original measure was supposed to protect,” she said in her maiden speech to the lower house.

“To do that is more than negligent – at the level of impact on actual lives it is tantamount to causing injury by omission. It’s like pulling your forces out of Afghanistan but leaving your local workers and their dependants in harm’s way on the ground without an escape plan.”

The speech came as the Territory government decided not to extend alcohol bans covering about 400 Aboriginal outstations and communities, prompting concern over a “massive”

increase in rates of violence and abuse fuelled by the abuse of alcohol. Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney is urgently seeking a meeting with Chief Minister Natasha Fyles amid concern over the lifting of the grog bans.

Senator Price began her day with her grandfather’s sister, Tess Napaljarri Ross, who has spent all week with her at parliament, with the pair participating in a traditional ceremony in the grounds of Parliament House before the maiden speech.

As she spoke emotionally of the recent murder-suicide of a young woman and her baby at the hands of the woman’s male partner in Alice Springs last week, Senator Price slammed the end of alcohol bans and said it was one of the most “appalling examples of legislation”. 

She also criticised the federal government’s moves to abolish the cashless debit card.

“We see two clear examples this week over failure to listen. The news grog bans will be lifted on dry communities, allowing the scourge of alcoholism and the violence that  accompanies it free reign,” she said. “Couple this with the removal of the cashless debit card that allowed countless families on welfare to feed their children rather than seeing their money claimed by kinship demands from alcoholics, substance abusers and gamblers in their own family group.”

For complete story

The study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, breaks down this $20 billion into: 

• $1.6 billion for the child protection system due to an adult carer’s drinking; 
• $560 million for alcohol related domestic violence
• almost $3 billion in lost productivity due to people having to care for a drinker.

“This is the first study to also measure the cost to those impacted by others’ drinking through alcohol-related traffic accidents, crime, violence and aggression, family hardship, caring for drinkers and their dependents, and healthcare and social services,”

Overall, the amount expended on those impacted by drinkers and their drinking is equivalent to the same amount again for those who drink, bringing the total annual bill to about $40 billion. This forensic analysis, by La Trobe University researchers, reveals the cost of everything from alcohol-related violence, car accidents, child services, impacts on quality of life and damage to property.

Complete article https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2022/release/alcohol-bystanders-burden-revealed

(Dalgarno Institute comment: Our 160 plus years of challenging this outcome has seen such before – in fact our movement was really started as a result of these outcomes. Note to, it is the ‘legal’ drug that is causing these egregious harms. A protected and commercialized drug that has become completely engrained into the culture. 

What is of even greater concern, is that pro-drug activists want to give the same carnage inducing ‘pass’ to currently illicit substances such as cannabis, cocaine, mushrooms, and crystal meth. 

We know that high THC cannabis alone causes psychosis and all its accompanying chaos. The ‘Kincare’ industry in South East Queensland is ‘booming’ because of ‘Ice’ impact on parents ability to not just care for their kids, but shocking harms done to them.  

The insanity of promoting ‘permission’ models for substance use cannot be overstated. It is time to #preventdontpromote and focus on the first priority pillar of the National Drug Strategy - #DemandReduction)

Also see                                                      

1. Children – The Life Long Sufferers of Parental Substance Use
2. AOD Use and the Kincare Crisis
3. Children:Domestic_Violence_The_AOD_Impact 
4. Police launch operation to help curb impact of ice on kids

As a risk factor for disability, alcohol has shown the most rapid rise over the past 30 years for people aged 55 and over compared to other age groups. Studies that have claimed health benefits from drinking remain flawed in their design. Many fall down when comparing drinkers with non-drinkers, as they do not take into account the so-called “sick quitter” effect of people in non-drinking control group who have given up drinking through poor health. The other common flaw is studying healthy older people, who represent a selective group who have remained in good health in spite of alcohol, not because of it. Above all, the most recent study concluding purported health benefits did not assessment cognitive impairment at all.

The bottom line is that to protect the brain from alcohol in older people with health problems, it is safest not to drink at all. In those older people who remain healthy, starting to drink would not be advisable, as alcohol is associated with a range or other physical disorders that balance out any “benefits” seen in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in some groups.

Can alcohol consumption increase your risk of dementia? - Alcohol Health Alliance

(15 Years of successful policy undone – under the radar – in just two months!)

Just 7 of 400 communities to remain dry from Sunday

By Zizi Averill,  Jul 15, 2022 

SEVEN Aboriginal communities have chosen to remain dry following a controversial decision to overturn a booze ban for more than 400 remote areas. On Sunday, alcohol will legally flow into previously dry communities across the NT for the first time in 15 years.

SEVEN Aboriginal communities have chosen to remain as dry areas following a controversial decision to overturn a longstanding ban on booze sales for more than 400 remote communities.This Sunday, alcohol will legally flow into previously dry communities across the Territory for the first time in 15 years.The changes come as a result of the Associations and Liquor Amendment Bill 2022, which passed through parliament in May despite outcry from Aboriginal medical groups, legal advocates, social services, and the NT Police Association.Communities were given the choice to ‘opt-in’ to a two-year extension to their dry community status.On Friday, Liquor Licensing director Philip Timney declared an extension to alcohol bans for the Bagot, Bulman, Jodetluk, Knuckey Lagoon Indigenous Village, Palmerston Indigenous Village, Railway Dam, and Weemol community areas.A spokeswoman for Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said 10 other communities were also in talks to remain alcohol protected areas, with the deadline to sign up set for January 31, 2023.“These restrictions are not designed to be permanent but allow those communities extra time to more closely consider their long-term alcohol aspirations,” the spokeswoman said.She said the changes did not impact 112 communities, which were General Restricted Areas prior to the 2007 Intervention.However, the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress said more than 400 communities would be affected by the Liquor Act changes.Ms Fyles’s spokeswoman said the changes brought to an end the “last living remnants of the Intervention”, ending the “race-based policy targeting Aboriginal Territorians with little to no engagement”.However, the decision to lift the longstanding bans were widely rebuked for a lack of consultation.AMSANT chief executive John Paterson said the NT already had the highest per capita rate of alcohol consumption, with concerns the return of takeaway alcohol could devastate regional areas.“(This) will bring about an immediate increase in alcohol intake in certain communities and homelands, and in turn this could lead to an increase in alcohol-fuelled violence and crime,” Dr Paterson said.He said the “11th hour” consultations had not allowed communities to have the time to discuss, make informed decisions and then implement strategies to minimise harms.

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