BPU Condemns Racist Grog Bans & Increased Police Funding in Northern Territory

The Black Peoples Union (BPU) condemns the introduction of alcohol bans in the so-called Northern Territory. These bans unfairly target First Nations people and are not only discriminatory but also an example of systematic institutionalised racism.The BPU calls on both the Federal and Northern Territory governments to immediately repeal these bans and instead listen to First Nations voices and focus on helping First Nations people to address issues that affect them in their communities.

Under the changes, Mondays and Tuesdays have been designated as takeaway-alcohol-free days, with daily opening hours otherwise restricted to between 3pm and 7pm. Alcohol sales will also be limited to one transaction per person per day. The Prime Minister said a range of safety initiatives would be funded through a $48.8 million investment for Alice Springs over two years. But he did not say how much of the funding was new money, apart from $14.2 million in extra funding for police.

Union spokesperson Dan Roe said, "These bans are racist and unjust, and are an example of the insidiousness of systematic institutional racism in Australian society. These popularist and reactionary laws unfairly target First Nation people and do not address the root causes of why alcohol-related issues exist in our communities". "We already have a voice, but Australia isn’t listening! It won’t even put into practice the advice handed down from it’s own royal commissions.”

The Australian government continues to treat First Nation people as non-citizens, our communities don’t suffer from problems with alcohol and crime, First Nation communities suffer from the failure of the NT and Federal governments to provide public services, such as access to education, employment opportunities, healthcare, housing, or the basic standards of living it provides the rest of the population.

Like every community, town, or city around the continent, white Australians included, the extreme stress of poverty and hopelessness is leading people to fall into substance abuse as a form of escape or coping mechanism, and until we address the social reasons of why people turn to substance abuse, throwing more First Nation people into jails won’t solve crime or alcohol problems anywhere, and it certainly won’t close any gaps or end deaths in custody.

Time and time again, our voices are ignored.

For First Nations people, we are reminded of the failed Northern Territory Intervention in 2007 that suspended the Racial Discrimination Act and imposed harsh measures upon First Nation people, such as alcohol and pornography bans, along with income management programs, without any consent or consultation with the communities affected. By dehumanising and demonising First Nations people in remote communities, the intervention reinforced the racist, paternalistic idea that First Nations people are not capable of taking care of their own affairs and should be treated as passive recipients of government policy rather than active participants in decision-making processes.

In June 2022 a National Day of Action calling for guns out of remote First Nations communities was launched by Warlpiri Elders from the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu. “We do not want guns in our remote community because it terrifies us”, said Yuendumu Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves. The ceasefire campaign was sparked by the acquittal of police constable Zachary Rolfe over the 2019 murder of 19-year-old Warlpiri teen Kumanjayi Walker. The National Day of Action saw protests held in city centres nationwide including Mparntwe-Alice Springs and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

“One of the things that we want is for police to put down their weapons and come clean, because it’s not their territory. It is not their place. If you want to walk around with guns, you do it in your own community”, Mr Hargraves said. 

We Deserve Better Than Just A Voice!

Every Friday, a crowd of protesters gather on the side of the road outside the Don Dale youth detention centre on the outskirts of Darwin. Leaked documents to the ABC showed that the number of young people entering Don Dale and its Alice Springs counterpart increased 94% at the end of 2021. The increase is a direct result of "tougher than ever" changes to youth bail laws made by a Labor government elected on promises to reform the Northern Territory's "broken" youth justice system.

There are more children detained inside the centre now than when a Royal Commission recommended in 2017 that the centre be closed. The Commission made headlines around the world when it exposed the horrific mistreatment and torture of children in northern territories youth detention system, almost 100% of children incarcerated in the northern territory are First Nation people.

Then-Chief Minister Michael Gunner vowed to implement the commissioners' 'expert advice', and said its findings “will live as a stain” on the Territory, and  “For this, I am sorry,” “But more than this, I'm sorry for the stories that live in the children we failed.” National Children's Commissioner, Anne Hollonds said there was a youth justice crisis across the country that was not making communities safer. "Australian kids as young as 10 are still locked up. Bail laws are tougher so new children's prisons are being built to meet the demand," she wrote on Twitter.

After years of delays, the NT government quietly revealed this week that construction of the new youth detention facility to replace Don Dale now looks unlikely to be finished next year, the centre being built alongside Darwin's massive adult jail, further away from the city itself, and will be even larger than initially planned, all in direct breach of Royal Commission recommendations.

We already have a voice, but Australia isn’t listening!

The Black Peoples Union President Keiran Stewart-Assheton said in a statement to the media on Tuesday:

“They've gone from wiping out whole tribes indiscriminately through wholesale massacres, biological contaminants and chemical warfare; to locking us up and killing us in custody indiscriminately at ever growing rates which are already the world's highest; all the while giving us the tools and conditions to kill ourselves in our own homes by orchestrating social conditions that spur drug and alcohol abuse, the world's highest suicide rates, and some of the world's worst health stats.”

“They’ve gone from being outspoken about their desire to steal our children, to quietly stealing even greater amounts today and accelerating the Stolen Generations agenda.”

“We believe that as we have retained our sovereignty since invasion that we still have the right to be self-determining people and the inalienable right to the use and access of our lands and waters, ownership over all our natural resources, and to be exempt from any and all limitations the illegitimate state attempts to bind us with.” he said.

For more information, please contact the Black Peoples Union via our website, www.blackpeoplesunion.org.