Introduction by Croakey: In the lead up to this Saturday’s general election in the Northern Territory, public health, and social and community service leaders have urged the next government to invest in housing, Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health infrastructure, the community and social services sector and the health workforce.
The major parties have also been called to prioritise action on climate change, and stop the “tough on crime” electioneering, as reported in our series of articles over recent weeks highlighting key election issues.
Below, Marie McInerney reports on another critical determinant of health, as advocates urge the next NT Government to maintain the minimum unit price of alcohol. The opposition Country Liberal Party (CLP) has promised to get rid of this if elected, as well as reinstating a controversial mandatory rehabilitation program.
Meanwhile, ANTAR – a not-for-profit “ally and thought leader” working for First Nations rights and justice – has indicated in their analysis of the major parties’ policies that the Country Liberal Party are not strong on key issues of Closing the Gap, cultural heritage and the environment, voice, treaty and truth-telling and youth justice.
The CLP has committed to new first home buyer or builder grants, but have been relatively quiet on priorities of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, according to ANTAR. They have also rejected NT Labor’s commitment to a treaty.
The CLP’s “tough on crime” policies – which include lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years – have the potential to widen the gap across target areas including children in out of home care, children in detention, access to schooling, and culturally appropriate healthcare.
Currently, the NT Greens do not hold any seats in the Territory’s Legislative Assembly but are running 11 candidates. According to ANTAR’s analysis, the Greens are strong on key issues, including framing “housing as a human right” in its platform.
The Greens’ platform also underscores the importance of self-determination, Aboriginal-led and community-controlled approaches in addressing the housing crisis, justice and other health issues.
Professor Nathan Franklin, Charles Darwin University political expert, told the ABC this week that the election will be “a very close one” between the major parties, NT Labor and the Country Liberal Party.
Marie McInerney writes:
The Mparntwe/Alice Springs-based People’s Alcohol Action Coalition (PAAC) has warned of “disaster” if whoever is elected at the Northern Territory’s general election this Saturday does not keep in place the minimum unit price, or ‘floor price’, on alcohol in place since 2018.
“The NT cannot afford to let cheap wine flow once again,” said the PAAC, whose members include the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC), Central Land Council, Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance NT, NT Council of Social Services, Central Australian Youth Link Up Service, the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council and the Public Health Association of Australia NT.
The Opposition Country Liberal Party (CLP) has vowed to get rid of the floor price – currently $1.30 per standard drink – and reinstate its controversial mandatory treatment program, while the governing Labor party Territory Labor is reported as not saying yet how long alcohol restrictions will remain in place if it is re-elected.
Getting rid of the floor price “would be a disastrous return to the bad old days of cheap grog”, PAAC spokesperson Dr John Boffa said in a statement. “The result will be higher consumption by problem drinkers, as all the credible research has shown, and more alcohol-related injury, illness and offending, including domestic violence.”
“We’ll soon see bottled and cask wine at rock-bottom prices as low as 30 cents a drink if the Minimum Unit Price is removed, as Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro has promised will happen,” Boffa said. “This will spell disaster.”
Alcohol reform
The PAAC has advocated successfully for alcohol reform in the NT, a minimum unit price on alcohol, reduced take-away trading hours, full-time Police Auxiliaries on bottle shops in Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek, and the reinstatement of alcohol restrictions in Alcohol Protected Areas by the NT Government in February 2023.
CAAC CEO Dr Donna Ah Chee earlier this year said there had been a 21 percent reduction in the average monthly number of alcohol-related domestic violence assaults in Mparntwe/Alice Spring after the introduction of the alcohol reforms, including the floor price, in 2018.
Unfortunately they later “skyrocketed” in 2022 when the NT and Federal Governments allowed the Stronger Futures regulations which kept Aboriginal town camps and living areas ‘dry’ to lapse, she said.
This led to reporting about Mparntwe/Alice Springs that was “sensationalist and betrayed a barely concealed racism”, she said, noting that, “devoid of context or history, it ignored the role of colonisation in setting up the conditions for violence, and the role of profit-taking by the alcohol industry”.
The PAAC coalition hailed recent Federal Government’s funding that is delivering a “huge, first-time investment to address the social determinants of health which will, over time, reduce the demand for alcohol”.
This includes $1 billion for education, $4.2 billion for housing and a new ‘work for the dole’ program with a base payment well above the poverty line, it said.
“No NT Government of any stripe should undermine this significant effort by releasing rivers of cheap alcohol,” it said.
More reading on the NT election
Experts call for the end of “tough on crime” electioneering, by Alison Barrett
Next Northern Territory Government must invest in community safety and the community services sector, by Sally Sievers
Why the climate health crisis should be front of mind for the Northern Territory election, by Alison Barrett
Next Northern Territory Government must ensure new housing commitments have solid foundations, by Peter McMillan
A three-point health prescription for the next Northern Territory Government, by Dr Kirsty Neal
Run-down health facilities and inadequate staff housing are undermining vital primary healthcare in Northern Territory, by Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory
Why this is a critical election for shaping the future of housing in the Northern Territory, by Skye Thompson
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the commercial determinants of health.
