An inquiry to determine whether hardline liquor restrictions should be imposed across northern Western Australia will take place behind closed doors.
The Director of Liquor Licensing has been investigating whether all mid and full-strength alcohol should be banned from takeaway sales in the Pilbara and Kimberley since mid-2020.
The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries this week confirmed to the ABC that submissions to the inquiry would not be publicly released.
The decision about whether to impose a full ban will also take place confidentially.
"If it is determined that it is in the public interest to impose further restrictions on the availability of packaged liquor in the relevant towns, a formal decision setting out the reasons will be provided and made public," a department spokesperson said.
'Just wrong': Opposition
Opposition Liberal Mining and Pastoral MP Neil Thomson described the decision not to publicly release details of the inquiry as "just wrong".
"A complete ban would be unacceptable to most people in the Kimberley," he said.
"People should be brought along for the ride because at the end of the day if there are restrictions which people find unacceptable, they're not going to have the opportunity to influence that decision.
The inquiry was triggered by an application in 2019 by retired Police Commissioner Chris Dawson, who argued alcohol abuse was having a devastating impact on northern communities.
The proposal has been met with widespread opposition by local governments and the business sector, which has warned it would decimate the tourist trade and make recruitment to the regions even more difficult.
A final decision will be made by the Director of Liquor Licencing and is expected in early 2023.
NT changes spark WA fears
Meanwhile, community leaders in WA's Kimberley say the easing of intervention-era liquor restrictions in the Northern Territory last week could have serious implications across state border lines if not patrolled properly.
The NT bans, which have been in place for 15 years, were lifted on Saturday, making liquor legal for the first time since the controversial rules were imposed in remote communities in 2007 by the Howard Government.
The changes mean Northern Territory communities can choose if they want to restrict access to alcohol, prompting concerns it could open the floodgates via back channels into WA's dry communities.
Millie Hills is an community leader based in Halls Creek, 350 kilometres south of Kununurra in the East Kimberley.
The Halls Creek Shire is home to about 3,491 residents across 133,443 square kilometres, with boundaries that run parts of the NT-WA border, and is home to several dry communities.
Ms Hills feared the changes in the NT could have a "big impact" if they resulted in a "free flow of grog" across the border to the west, where sly grogging is already a major challenge for authorities.
"The communities that are very close to the Territory border, they'll actually just go across the border and probably try and get as much as they want and bring it back into their communities in WA.
"We have an issue with sly grogging that could become an issue where people across the border probably think they could try come across and try sell sly grog in the Kimberley."
