The Western Australia government plans to cap the sale of alcohol to one carton of beer, 1.5 litres of wine and 1 litre of spirits, per person per day, in the far north towns of Broome and Derby.
Key points:
- There are moves to restrict the sale of alcohol in Broome and Derby
- The Director of Liquor Licensing has issued alcohol retailers with a show cause notice
- The proposed new rules could come into effect on February 23
The restrictions follow revelations by the ABC that WA Police want blanket regional restrictions implemented across the state due to concerns about a spike in alcohol-fuelled violence.
The director of liquor licensing has now issued a show cause notice to liquor retailers in Broome and Derby to provide reasons why they should not implement the stringent new restrictions from February 23.
The new rules will also restrict opening hours from midday to 7pm, and require customers to have their identification scanned to check they are not on the government’s Banned Drinkers Register.
It also restricts the sale of alcohol in glass containers where there are non-glass containers available.
An additional restriction will apply to the town of Derby, banning the sale of alcohol on Sundays and Mondays.
Exemptions are available for people to order bulk purchases of liquor 72 hours in advance, but they must fill in a form detailing what the bulk purchase is for, and the form must be provided to police.
The proposed restrictions are similar to those implemented in Carnarvon, in WA’s Mid West, in May.
Police Deputy Commissioner Allan Adams wrote to Liquor Licensing Director Lanie Chopping in August last year asking her to consider expanding the restrictions to towns across the Kimberley, Pilbara, Midwest Gascoyne and Goldfields-Esperance regions.
The deputy commissioner listed 25 towns with higher rates of alcohol-fuelled harm than Carnarvon, including Broome and Derby.
He wrote there had been a “significant rise” in alcohol-related harm in those towns over the past decade.
The figures provided to the Director in that letter also reveal the rate of alcohol-related offences per 1,000 people were 36.5 times higher across the Kimberley than in metropolitan areas.
Broome is a popular tourism destination in WA but in recent years has been subject to a sweeping youth crime wave.
WA Police launched “Operation Shield” in 2022 to send more officers to tackle the issue.
There have been earlier attempts to tackle problem drinking in the area, including the controversial Banned Drinkers Register, which was beefed up in November after complaints it was ineffective.
In 2020 WA Police lodged an application to ban all sales of takeaway alcohol across the Kimberley aside from light beer.
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