Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / AMSANT CEO John Paterson says his and other organisations are gutted at the alcohol legislation amendment "rushed" through Parliament this week

Transcript

AMSANT CEO John Paterson says his and other organisations are gutted at the alcohol legislation amendment "rushed" through Parliament this week · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now inside Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: Earlier this week, we know the Territory government passed the
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Associations and Liquor Amendment Bill for twenty twenty two. It
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: means that communities are now going to be able to
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: choose well. The government says their own approach to alcohol
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: restrictions after the Commonwealth Stronger Futures legislation expires. But a
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  Speaker 2: coalition of Territory Peak organizations for health, justice, the community
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  Speaker 2: sector and others are demanding better consultation for Aboriginal communities
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: and a commitment to better process from government after that
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: legislation passed earlier in the week.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the.
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  Speaker 2: Line to talk more about this is the CEO of AMSANT,
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  Speaker 2: John Patterson.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, John.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie mate, just too.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I.
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  Speaker 3: Take it you've received their joint media release from last night.
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  Speaker 1: I have, I have seen it.
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  Speaker 3: You see. Yeah, as you can see, you've mentioned a
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  Speaker 3: couple of more few of those pre organizations that do
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  Speaker 3: a number of community service and human service this work
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  Speaker 3: in our sector and our community throughout the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the other significant partner in all of
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  Speaker 3: this is the Northern Territory Police association, so very significant,
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  Speaker 3: and Katie, we represent those peak bodies there represent a
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  Speaker 3: large number of constituents, our members, our services, the work
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  Speaker 3: we do, the people we're in contact with, the communities
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  Speaker 3: we work with is huge, not to be underestimated. So
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  Speaker 3: the second thing I want to make and then we'll
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  Speaker 3: get on the discussion. Somebody promoted me to professor and
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: the release, but I should correct the record. I was
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: on a war to day honorary doctorate from Charles Archer
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  Speaker 3: to read doctor John.
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  Speaker 1: Oh that's all right, Oh, that's all right. Well, well
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  Speaker 1: we like to call your pado in here.
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  Speaker 3: We may let me open my comments bodies. First three
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  Speaker 3: points that I want to make it clear to the
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  Speaker 3: first one but blanket alcohol restrictions on communities and posed
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  Speaker 3: as part of the intervention. And I might encourage everybody
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  Speaker 3: to get a hold of the handsuard that was recorded
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  Speaker 3: from the other Knight's parliamentary session on this and listen
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  Speaker 3: and read to Robin Lamley's speech. She puts it into
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  Speaker 3: perfect context about this, which should remind people about the
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  Speaker 3: history of the background to this work. So recommend getting
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  Speaker 3: hold of Robin's speech and extended go back to my
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  Speaker 3: point as part of the intervention that's extended by the
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  Speaker 3: Stronger Futures legislation will cease on the sixteenth of July
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  Speaker 3: this year, a few weeks away when the Stronger Futures
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  Speaker 3: legislation sunsets. Secondly, however, communities which were declared dry under
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  Speaker 3: the non legislation prior to the intervention will continue to
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  Speaker 3: be dry under the same mentee legislative provisions after Stronger
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  Speaker 3: Future sunsets. And Thirdly, but there still means that there
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  Speaker 3: are over four hundred communities, town camps, community living here is,
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  Speaker 3: homelands and outstations that will suddenly be open to alcohol
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  Speaker 3: access after a long period of prohibitions, up consultations and
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  Speaker 3: confrontation that determine the community's wishes and without measures to
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  Speaker 3: be in place manage the impacts of alcohol. One of
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  Speaker 3: their other big concerns, Katie, is you know this could
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  Speaker 3: also mean, you know, the priests are under resource so
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  Speaker 3: it could well mean I can't confirm it, but the
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  Speaker 3: pallets and other police auxiliary MECA inspectors that we see,
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  Speaker 3: particularly Catherine Tennercreek Alla Springs at those bottlers that are
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  Speaker 3: just double checking and you know, making sure that those
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  Speaker 3: that are purchasing alcohol, got the right addresses, et cetera,
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  Speaker 3: could be removed and then what is the process, what
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  Speaker 3: structures and other systems have we got to check? So
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  Speaker 3: this is where it could become very widespread consumption of alcohol,
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  Speaker 3: even in some of those dry communities that already Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well and Pado, this is something that you and I
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  Speaker 2: spoke about a couple of weeks ago. I've also spoken
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  Speaker 2: to the Police Association president about this on a couple
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  Speaker 2: of occasions, and he'd raised concerns.
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  Speaker 1: Paul mcceurwit raised concerns. You've raised those concerns.
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  Speaker 2: We've spoken to John Boffer, We've spoken to lots of
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  Speaker 2: people about the concerns being raised.
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  Speaker 1: Were you surprised ultimately that this did.
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  Speaker 2: Pass earlier in the week without some more consultation from
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory government?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie. Look, the Aboriginal leadership, particularly from those peak
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  Speaker 3: organizations that are part of the media, lease are absolutely gutted.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we thought we had a government that was listening,
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  Speaker 3: a government that you know, and I've got to give
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  Speaker 3: them credit, have introduced and implemented good alcohol measures throughout
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  Speaker 3: you know, the last decade. But this piece of legislation
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  Speaker 3: that was it was actually rushed through if we didn't
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  Speaker 3: expect it to be later in the week and then
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  Speaker 3: we found out you know, oh it's been being debated.
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  Speaker 3: Tonight's sort of whenever the other nights when they went
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  Speaker 3: through Parliament without any due proper, open, transparent consultation with
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  Speaker 3: those communities, those key stakeholder groups, those women groups, those
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  Speaker 3: youth groups, those groups that are going to feel the
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  Speaker 3: impact of alcohol in their communities when there's no you know,
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  Speaker 3: existing regulations. We want. What we're looking for, Kadie, is
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  Speaker 3: the process led by government that goes in the community
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  Speaker 3: and say, okay, you know, once they sought out where
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  Speaker 3: we're going to go ahead for the stuff for those
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  Speaker 3: that want to implement alcohol, you know, licenses in their
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  Speaker 3: respective communities. You know, we've got to ensure there's proper regulations.
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  Speaker 3: You know, is it going to be heavy beer, like,
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  Speaker 3: is it going to be between what ours? How many
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  Speaker 3: times a week? Is there food and other meals going
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  Speaker 3: to be provioked? Because I understand that that could be
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  Speaker 3: a sort of a compulsory requirement for those that sell
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  Speaker 3: alcohols they have meals, you know, John, we don't want
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  Speaker 3: people drinking on an empty stomach, so to speak. Yeah, John,
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  Speaker 3: what happens with somebody's bard? How long is they going
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  Speaker 3: to be bad for them? What sorts of definitions around
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  Speaker 3: you know, being making an anuisance of being a mischief?
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  Speaker 1: You know, are you concerned?
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  Speaker 2: Are you worried that you know with some of these
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  Speaker 2: communities now you know that the reality here could be
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  Speaker 2: if if you know, if what you say, well, you
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  Speaker 2: guys have basically you've got all of these groups that
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  Speaker 2: have come out and said that there wasn't that proper consultation.
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  Speaker 2: So are you confident now that the government is going
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  Speaker 2: to actually consult with those communities to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: their concerns are heard?
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  Speaker 3: Well, if I'm hearing it right, Katie from my informant, So,
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  Speaker 3: I understand that a tender sort of went out for
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  Speaker 3: organizations or run the private sector to undertake some community
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  Speaker 3: consultation before the sixteenth of July, and I understand a
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  Speaker 3: few of them have pushed back or declined drawn from
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  Speaker 3: that because the timing is just too rushed. We needed.
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  Speaker 3: Our position was keep the current policy legislation in place
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  Speaker 3: for the next two years and had the flexibility of
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  Speaker 3: the communities that went through an open, transparent process and
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  Speaker 3: everybody gave the thumbs up for them to have the
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  Speaker 3: sale of alcohol in their communities. That there was flexibility
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  Speaker 3: to enable that to happen within the two years, but
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  Speaker 3: we needed a two year period, you know, to coincide
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  Speaker 3: or to align with those other pieces of legislation that
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  Speaker 3: are currently there with May sunset, you know, tend of
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  Speaker 3: two thousand and twenty three or twenty four, whatever that
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  Speaker 3: date was, to give us full time, enough time to
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  Speaker 3: undertake those community consultations. You know, we've experienced there's some
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  Speaker 3: really good work done by Lean Little and Er team
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  Speaker 3: that went around and consulted all those communities. That's the
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  Speaker 3: sort of that's the sort of process we see seeking here, Katie. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: going out there genuinely sitting down working with communities, explaining,
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  Speaker 3: providing all the relevant evidence. You know, they need to
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  Speaker 3: understand that. You know, there's statistics and evidence around the
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  Speaker 3: Emergency Department alcohol related admittance. That's all that sort of
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  Speaker 3: information needs to be tabled so that people are fully
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  Speaker 3: aware and have a shared understanding of what they're getting
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  Speaker 3: themselves into.
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  Speaker 2: John the Northern Territory government said in a statement earlier
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  Speaker 2: in the week when this was passed, that the legislation,
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  Speaker 2: the previous legislation was race based policy with no engagement
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  Speaker 2: with Aboriginal territorians or with the Aboriginal territorians that it
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  Speaker 2: was targeted at.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, what would you say in response to that?
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  Speaker 3: Now it's a florid argument. Florid argument, Codie. And this
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  Speaker 3: is why I want people to get hold of that
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  Speaker 3: transcript from Robin Lamley's speech the other night when she
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  Speaker 3: got up and spoke, and I you know, I listened
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  Speaker 3: to it very very closely. She puts it into the context.
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  Speaker 3: This legislation came in with the Australian intervention under the
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  Speaker 3: Howard government, a L and P government. Labor was soon
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  Speaker 3: after elected nationally had a Labor National government. We advocated then,
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  Speaker 3: the Peak bodies advocated for the Labor government to get
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  Speaker 3: rid of some of these Troconian measures and pieces of
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  Speaker 3: legislation that was part of the intervention, but they continued
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  Speaker 3: with it. So they're just as guilty as anybody else
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  Speaker 3: for maintaining this legislation and stronger future measures. If they
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  Speaker 3: were serious and thought it was racist, why didn't they
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  Speaker 3: get rid of it back then? Yeah? Well, I'm saying
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  Speaker 3: it's a fraud argument and it doesn't you know, it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't part the pub tests. As far as we're concerned, John,
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  Speaker 3: we are.
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  Speaker 1: Going to have to wrap up.
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  Speaker 2: But I want to ask you what are what are
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  Speaker 2: your real concerns now with this legislation passing and alcohol
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  Speaker 2: getting back into these communities.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Katie, put everybody on notice, every taxpayer in the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory too. You're going to be bigger than any
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  Speaker 3: your wallop because the increase of alcohol related violence, and
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  Speaker 3: you know all the impacts, all the spin offs that
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  Speaker 3: are going to come from that. You know, the extra
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  Speaker 3: police which are currently already under enormous train, our health workforce,
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  Speaker 3: you know in a very similar position. You know, the
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  Speaker 3: the the women centers, the childcare, you know, children issues
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  Speaker 3: that they're going to come from this restless night. You know,
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  Speaker 3: people not running up to work because they can't get
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  Speaker 3: a decent sleep. These are you know, this is going
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  Speaker 3: to come at a cost, and taxpayers are going to
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  Speaker 3: have to pay for a Katie and I forget the
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  Speaker 3: last figure, but my informants told me it was well
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  Speaker 3: five hundred million dollars for you know, full the services,
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  Speaker 3: the mop up from alcohol related incidences, et cetera. We're
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  Speaker 3: just going to see an increase in that and at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the day, somebody's going to have to
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  Speaker 3: pay for it. I mean that money, that money, and
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  Speaker 3: that the attention that this has been given by parliament
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  Speaker 3: and governments. Why aren't we getting the same sort of attention, Ktie,
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  Speaker 3: on the urgent need for housing, addressing more women's shelters
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  Speaker 3: and children support centers, et cetera, et cetera. While this
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  Speaker 3: big focus, the big urgent attention that we've got to address.
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  Speaker 3: It seems like every time there's you know, there's a
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  Speaker 3: debate that's around alcohol and Aboriginal people are at the
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  Speaker 3: forefront of it. We want some constructive, meaningful the baton
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  Speaker 3: discussion in this in this place, Katie. At the end
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  Speaker 3: of the day, it's just so terrible that some of
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: the priorities that governments are wanting to have a debaiton
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  Speaker 3: passed legislation on. I want to see a similar effort
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: around housing, education, employment, incarceration rates, etcetera, etcetera.
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  Speaker 2: You know, well, John Patterson, we always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: The CEO of amsatt the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance here
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern territory, a doctor John Patterson, or as
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  Speaker 2: we like to call you, Pado. We really appreciate you
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: having a chat with us this morning.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Good on, Thank you.