Comments on: Rehab of drunks is secondary to getting them off the streets, says A-G

By: Russell Guy

Russell Guy — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 22:07:42 +0000

William, you could consider joining the push for a take-away sales free day regime which would give everybody, including the drunks a break. This idea has been seriously pushed for some time, but the cynics refuse to see anything other than punitive demand measure reform.
Profit before people unto the rehab prison won’t stop a 40 year gestation of alcohol industry proliferation in the centre because it’s an Australia-wide drinking culture promotion. Welcome to the nightmare on Todd Street. Take-away free sales days, yeah!

By: William Walker

William Walker — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:21:00 +0000

People are getting fed up with the large number of presentations by drunks at the emergency department. Believe me or not, the drunks just laugh at everybody when the people try to help them and the drunks think it’s a big joke. Honestly this is no laughing matter because everybody who present themselves at emergency departments truly determines the true status of the hospitals. The Territory hospitals could have and should have been much further ahead of their current status. We should have been developing new treatments and helping the more genuine cases by now but the hospitals can’t because the resources are being taken up by drunks. We the general population suffer as usual.

By: Graham Tjilpi Buckley

Graham Tjilpi Buckley — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 04:58:12 +0000

The public hears a lot about “political spin” and the Attorney General Elferink is proving to be a champion of the “spin camp”. Unfortunately, to date, Deputy Chief Minister Robyn Lambley seems to be out of her depth with the lightweight public statements she has given so far on alcohol and education policies.
How a defence can be mounted for the decision to scrap the BDR, while it was still in its infancy, is beyond me.

By: russell guy

russell guy — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:44:36 +0000

Robyn Lambley asks “if the BDR scheme really worked like Labor said it did – why isn’t there a significant reduction in these (assault) statistics?”

One part of the answer is that it was only operational for six months and it wasn’t designed to be a silver bullet. It was part of a multi-pronged approach to a massive problem and this tactic has been endorsed by other states and alcohol policy reform organisations, but the CL have demonised the BDR for political, rather than policy reasons.

As such, we are living with a reactive policy direction in the NT – anyone on the ground knows this and with respect Robyn, I haven’t seen you around the roadhouse scene where the BDR was becoming an instrument for change.

It sent a positive message on a psychological behavioral level that was not given a chance to play out, so your question is immature. Police and the licensees I’m acquainted with gave it a thumbs up in the MacDonnell Shire region and I personally know of whitefellers who voluntarily registered as a means of trying to curb their alcoholism.

I witnessed Indigenous drinkers astonished at its overnight dismantling. They couldn’t believe that the grog was on again and took it as an abandonment of the government’s attempt to show some interest in their alcoholic lives. A supply measure, no less!

The Attorney General talks about the Liquor Act being thicker than the Criminal Code, but that’s because it’s a filter for massive supply more than anything else. Trading on his days as a police officer is a blunt reminder that numerous research organisations have offered better reasons for a different approach and been ignored.

Unfortunately, the Elferink model supports a drinking culture, while the W.A.’s now supports the BDR.