The Drinking Culture

There is currently a huge drinking issue among the indigenous aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and in the past year the NT Government have put bans and restrictions in place to combat this growing health, social and criminal problem that has resulted from the abuse of alcohol.  There are high suicide rates, child abuse, domestic violence, anti-social behaviour, renal & heart disease, fetal alcohol syndrome, just to name a few, all linked back largely to alcohol misuse.

Here in Katherine, it is usual to see a lot of indigenous people lined up outside bottles stores during the weekdays waiting for them to open at 2pm.  Then a few hours later the police are out picking up people and taking them to the sobering up shelter or bringing them in under "Protective Custody" to the watch house cells.  Drinking in a public place is banned in all Northern Territory towns and people found drinking have their alcohol tipped out and can potentially receive a large fine. 

Protective Custody is for people to be kept safe or to keep others safe from them and is largely for people who are rolling drunk, although some people who have mental health issues will also be taken into protective custody until they can be assessed by a mental health professional.  People in Protective Custody are in custody and have to remain in the cells but they aren't arrested and therefore they are released generally after 6 hours.  It's these people that I will largely be working with at the watch house.

If you drive around the shops in the evening here in Katherine it is full of drunk Aborigines.  The problem isn't helped by people receiving their benefits, including land grants, spread over different days of the week.  For most people they receive a constant stream of money all week and as such, the money makes it easy for alcoholics to always have money for grog.  It really is a sad and sorry site and sure does put the NZ drinking issue in perspective.

The restrictions around alcohol were brought in just last year and include not only banning alcohol consumption in public places but also with restrictions on the sale on alcohol.  In Katherine the trading hours for the purchase of alcohol are:

Monday to Friday
2:00pm – 8.00pm
Saturday and Public Holidays
Noon - 8:00pm
Sundays (Hotels only)
2:00pm -8:00pm

When someone purchases alcohol a photo ID is required regardless of your age so it can be scanned to see if you are on the Banned Drinking Register. People who commit alcohol-related offences or who are taken into protective custody three times in three months can be banned from purchasing, possessing or consuming alcohol for up to 12 months. By scanning a photo ID, the Banned Drinker Register enables liquor licensees at the point of sale to identify banned drinkers and enforce the bans.  Despite these restrictions and bans the alcohol issue in the indigenous population here in the NT is still massive.

They also have an active campaign in the Northern Territory to educate people about alcohol misuse. Though as the large number of people I see live on the street (or 'long-grassing' as it's referred to here), then it's unlikely the people who really need to see these adverts ever actually see them.  They also don't often attend health clinics and in some cases the watch house nurse may be the only health professional they have seen in ages.

A couple of my favorite public health campaign adverts: