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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Superintendent Brendan Muldoon · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory Police in Jabbaru, well,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: they seized a vehicle and the equivalent of two hundred
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and seventy standard drinks in an alleged grog running incident
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: late last week. Joining us on the line to tell
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: us a little bit more about it, I believe that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I've got Superintendent Brendan Muldoon from the Northern Territory Police.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you. Brendan.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: For your time this morning talk us through this seizure
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that happened late last week.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, unfortunately, it's not an uncommon occurrence people taking
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: alcohol and their alcohol protected areas across the Northern Territory.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: But on this particular incident, on the twenty second of
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: July to about nine forty at night, police conducting traffic
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  Speaker 2: duties out near Javaru Way intercepted a Holden commodore. Four
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: occupants in the vehicle identified that they were from one
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: of the alcohol protected areas out in that region and
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: it's an Aboriginal community. So they after a few discussions,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: identified that there was alcohol in the vehicle where they
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: are located. To curtains of alcohol, beer and several bottles
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: of whiskey.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: And I understand that now there is a fifty one
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: year old the driver has, as I understand it, been
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: been arrested. Is that right?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: So he was provided a notice to appear and not
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: arrested at the scene, but he'll attend court in relation
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to transporting alcohol into an alcohol protected area. He's also
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: his vehicle was seized as a result under the Liquor
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Act and a decision we made at some stage by
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the court as to whether he forfeits that vehicle or
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the vehicles returned him.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: And this secondary supply of alcohol, I mean, it's something
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: that obviously see our territory police are pretty focused on
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: because you know, to those out there listening, we might
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: have some interstate listeners who are wondering, you know, why
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: this would be happening. But really, if people aren't able
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: to get their hands on alcohol, we see it a bit,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: don't we. Within you know, someone who is able to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: go and purchase that alcohol is purchasing it, trying to
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: take it out to a community and then on selling
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: it i'd imagine for a substantial amount of money.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they do potentially sell it, on sell it,
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  Speaker 2: but also they supply it to other family members as well.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: But I mean, as you know, Northern Territory continues to
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: have the highest rates of alcohol related deaths across the country,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: alcohol related diseases, single use of risky drinking behaviors, and
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: lifetime risky behaviors. It's a significant issue in the Northern Territory. Yeah,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: it's been around a long time. You only need to
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: look at the Royley Review was conducted a couple of
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: years ago that highlights the systemic issues that we have
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory around alcohol.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Brendan, how have things been going, you know
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: in terms of the police sort of trying to stop
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: this secondary supply and getting out on some of those
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: more remote roads I suppose, or more remote areas to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: make sure that you are stopping it before it actually
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: reaches those communities.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Well, it is one of our targeted activities. And you'll
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: note there's been recent decisions by the liqu Commission around
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: certain venues that have been identified as contributing to the
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: issues that we have. It's quite clear during the COVID
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: lockdowns that we had in twenty twenty that we saw
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: when the biosecurity zones were around for our remote areas.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: We saw significant reductions in issues in remote communities, particularly
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: around alcol whole related stuff. So we actually had five
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: year lows in relation to alcohol related issues during that time.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: But unfortunately, as soon as we came out of that
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: lockdown and the alcohol was able to flow into those
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: areas again, we went from five year lows to five
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: year high. So significant issues around alcohol and when they're consumed,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: not the unvetted, unvetted access to alcohol and it's messages.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and I know that there had been quite
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a bit of reporting sort of you know, after the
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: COVID lockdown and then when some of those sort of
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: payments had flowed through about you know, just how much
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: some people were selling alcohol for in some of our
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: remote communities. I know the police Commissioner had spoken about
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: it publicly on a few occasions. So it is certainly
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: something that we grapple with in the territory. But I
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: know that our police do as much as possible to
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: try to really stamp it out.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Yep, we do. We're consistently targeting these tops of issues
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: and you know, it's preventing harm at the end of
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the day, and that's our main reason for doing it
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: to prevent to vulnerable people in these communities, generally women
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: and children.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Well, Brendan Muldoon, Superintendent Brendan Muldoon with the Northern Territory Police,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: we really appreciate you coming on this morning and telling
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: us a bit more about that seizure near Jabaru. We'll
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: talk to you again soon, no doubt.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: It is