Parliamentary record : Part I debates (02 October 1990)
Debates for 5th Assembly 1987 - 1990; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 5th Assembly 1987 - 1990
1990-10-02
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Debates
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/220324
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/699493
DEBATES - Tuesday 2 October 1990 Mr EDE: I suggest that we prosecute under the laws that we have. Mr Finch interjecting. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The honourable minister will remain silent. Mr Finch interjecting. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Does the minister want to be named? Mr Finch: Not this week. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Then the minister will know what to do about it. Mr EDE: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I suggest that we provide our police with the support they need to enable them to enforce the laws which I have been talking about. When I discuss the 2 kml aw with police, they tell me that they hate it. They will hate these provisions even more. The member for Sadadeen was correct when he said that on-the-spot fi nes do not work. More than that, the 2 km law itself is flouted with absolute impunity in Alice Springs. These amendments will make no difference to that, and I will te 11 you how people flaunt it. They skite about it. Honourable members from Alice Springs and people who visit the town will know that, in the main, drinking camps are in areas where they are easily seen and where approaching pol ice vehicles can be easily seen. If men and women are sitting around drinking from a flagon and they see a police car approaching, a woman simply puts the fl agon under her dress. What can the pol ice do? They walk around prodding the' ground with sticks because sometimes people hide cans in holes in the sand, but they cannot touch those women. People are not stupid. They find ways around the law and, if we try to add more provisions, they will find other ways to get around them. We have to attack the root cause of the problem. It wi 11 not take long for people to real ise what they have to do to thwart the provisions of this bill. What will happen when the pol ice impound grog and issue recei pts and $20 on-the-spot fines to the same person? It wi 11 not be the person who has to pay the $20 fi ne who',wi 11 collect the a lcoho 1. Somebody else will arri ve with the receipt, as is their right. What will happen when grog is lost? Surely we are not asking the pol ice to maintain the same level of security over amounts of Ti ntara wi ne and Cool i bah claret as they do over other goods? Some alcohol will be lost. People will come in with their receipts and fi nd that the grog is not there. Arguments wi 11 rage about that. It will give me an incredible headache because people will traipse into my electorate office claiming that the police have knocked off their grog. I will send them straight around to one of the CLP members. I will say: 'Go and talk to him. He passed the law'. Probably, they will all end up ,at the offi ce of the member for Sadadeen. There will be blues and it will make the job of the police more difficult. It will not have the effect that the members opposite desire. It is another attempt to create the perception that they are doing something rather than admitting that they do not know the answers. I Urge honourable members to support the amendment proposed by the member for MacDonnell. Mr FINCH (Racing and Gaming): Mr Deputy Speaker, the problem of the abuse or the excessive ~se ,of alcohol ought to be considered in the light of the damage that it does to the persons themselves and also the damage that it does directly or indirectly to others. This is only one of a number of 10 699