That's it for today, thanks for reading.
Here are the main stories on Monday, 30 May:
- Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley elected unopposed as Liberals leader and deputy leader;
- David Littleproud wins National party leadership from Barnaby Joyce;
- Pacific countries reject China’s proposed security deal, with Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong saying she hoped to build a “stronger Pacific family”;
- Counting continues in seats of Gilmore, Deakin and Macnamara, with Labor one seat away from a majority;
- Australia records 10 Covid deaths, as booster eligibility is expanded; and
- Crown Melbourne fined $80m by the casino watchdog for conduct uncovered by a royal commission.
We’ll see you all again tomorrow.
Northern Territory to permit alcohol in remote Aboriginal communities that do not opt out
A fascinating story out of the Northern Territory about the remote dry communities where alcohol may soon be legal, via AAP:
The Northern Territory government has released a list of the remote dry Indigenous communities where alcohol will soon be permitted.
A new NT law to replace expiring Intervention-era commonwealth alcohol restrictions requires communities to ask for the ban to continue past 16 July.
If they don’t, it will no longer be illegal for people to sell or drink alcohol in 144 remote and currently dry communities.
This includes Peppimenarti, 325km southwest of Darwin, which was rocked by civil unrest and gunfire last year.
Also on the list is the closed community of Bulman, 310km northeast of Katherine, and Amanbidji near the Western Australian border.
The NT government says any person or entity that wishes to sell alcohol in a remote community must apply to the NT Liquor Commission for a license.
“This is a robust statutory process governed by the Liquor Act 2019 requiring strict criteria to be met, and is subject to any condition placed on it by the Liquor Commission,” a spokesperson told AAP.
It is also contacting communities to educate them about the law change and help them opt-in if they want restrictions to continue.
“The [government] will be providing additional resourcing to support stakeholder groups and community organisations to lead consultations,” the spokesperson said.
Peak social service and medical groups slammed the legislation, which was passed on 17 May, saying the number of affected communities is more than 400.
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency’s chief executive, Priscilla Atkins, said the move is likely to have a devastating impact on communities.
“We already have so many problems related to alcohol. Our hospitals are full, our domestic violence rates are the highest in the nation and rising, and the justice system is clogging up” she said.
“What the NT government has just done will add to that harm. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory said the legislation was rushed through parliament without consulting key stakeholders.
“It will now be up to the federal government to do what is needed given the failure of the NT government to listen and respond to requests for an ‘opt out’ system,” said John Boffa of the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition.
About 100 communities under other NT liquor restrictions before the commonwealth law came into force in 2007 will revert to the previous controls.
The territory has the highest per capita alcohol consumption and rate of alcohol-attributable deaths in Australia, according to the NT Council of Social Service.
Updated
