Penny Wright (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Australian Greens amendments (8) and (9) on sheet 7221 revised:

(8)   Clause 8, page 11 (lines 9 and 10), omit the penalty, substitute:

Maximum penalty:

  (c)   10 penalty units for a first offence; or

  (d)   20 penalty units for a second or subsequent offence.

(9)   Clause 8, page 12 (lines 28 and 29), omit the penalty, substitute:

Maximum penalty:

  (c)   10 penalty units for a first offence; or

  (d)   20 penalty units for a second or subsequent offence.

This legislation increases penalties for the possession, consumption and supply of alcohol. Increasing penalties for more minor offences is always a concern to the Greens. In particular, we are concerned that this legislation makes possession of amounts under 1.35 litres an offence which could attract a penalty of up to six months imprisonment. Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory—APO NT—is an alliance comprising the Central Land Council, the Northern Land Council, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Central Australian Legal Aid Service and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory. The alliance was created to provide a more effective response to key issues of joint interest and concern affecting Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, including through advocating practical policy solutions to government. This important organisation noted in its submission to the inquiry by the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee into these bills:

The NT already has amongst the harshest penalties in Australia for bringing alcohol into remote Aboriginal communities … A punitive response has not worked and there is no evidence that an additionally punitive response is what is needed.

This was supported by numerous submissions and evidence given at the inquiry—for example, Mr Hunyor, Principal Legal Officer with the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, NAAJA, asked:

… where is the evidence that it is going to make any difference to increase penalties? I think one of the issues we need to look at every time an increase in penalty and an increase in imprisonment is imposed is: what is the opportunity cost if realistically that is going to mean sending more people to jail?

This concern is supported by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which said:

The NTER Evaluation Report indicated there was a clear increase in alcohol-related offences, including offences that were created by the NTER measures. The Commission therefore reiterates its standing concerns that the alcohol offences under the NTER continued by the Stronger Futures Bill may result in increased imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Infringement notices provide a viable alternative to harsh penalties. We support the government amendments to this effect.

What is actually needed, rather than increasingly punitive measures, is more resources dedicated to culturally appropriate alcohol counselling and rehabilitation. Ms Rosas from NAAJA highlighted the inappropriate emphasis on penalties rather than rehabilitation:

NAAJA recognise the need to do more to stop the damage caused by alcohol abuse in our communities, but increasing the penalties for alcohol related offences is not the answer. Aboriginal people already make up 80 per cent of the jail population in the NT. Locking more people up is not going to fix our problems and banning alcohol has not solved the problem. The alcohol bans have pushed drinkers further from their communities into very unsafe situations. We need to treat the disease. There is no professional counselling … we need rehabilitation centres. We need culturally relevant programs and services and we need more education in the schools to teach the younger generation the dangers of drinking and drug use. Governments need to work with elders to take ownership and responsibility of alcohol management plans and be part of the solution.

The Australian Greens oppose the simplistic solution of increasing penalties for offences relating to less than 1.35 litres. It is unclear that punitive approaches are effective, and they will likely lead to increased imprisonment of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. This will be catastrophic. As such, these amendments reduce the number of penalty points and remove imprisonment for offences under 1.35 litres. I commend them to the chamber.