Mixed reactions to new alcohol restrictions in WA towns of Broome and Derby

One of WA’s most famous holiday towns will crack down on alcohol with new restrictions limiting the amount of booze people can buy and slashing hours bottleshops are allowed to be open. The new restrictions in Broome come into effect on July 15. Derby, about two hours north of the Kimberley tourist town, will be under even stricter restrictions with the laws also banning the sale of alcohol on certain days of the week. The sale of alcohol on Sundays and Mondays in Derby will be completely banned. And Broome bottleshops’ operating hours will be slashed three hours, from 11am-10pm down to 12pm-8pm. The towns will also follow strict daily purchase limits, with takeaway sales limited to a single carton of full-strength beer per customer per day or, alternatively, two bottles of wine, one litre of spirits or one litre of fortified wine. The restrictions have generated a raft of reactions among local bottleshop owners, Indigenous corporations, and the State’s liquor store peak body. While some say the restrictions are too harsh and should be wound back, others claim the new measures, at the order of the State liquor licensing director Lanie Chopping, don’t go far enough. Peter Cribb, director of Broome dual bar and bottleshop Divers Tavern, said the old and new restrictions still don’t address the fundamental issues across the Kimberley region. “These new restrictions do little to address the underlying, deep-seated social issues that are statewide — including the metropolitan area,” Mr Cribb said. “We already have significant liquor restrictions imposed in Broome and the Kimberley, and these new restrictions represent a further inconvenience on all Broome and Kimberley residents and tourism to the region.” But Garl Garl Walbu Alcohol Association manager Thomas King, who manages the addiction treatment centre in Derby, said the new restrictions should be expanded. “We are dealing with alcohol-related issues every day. The effects it has on crime and antisocial behaviour have an impact on our community,” he said. Mr King said he believes Derby’s high rate of family violence is directly related to alcohol abuse. “There needs to be a lot more stringent measures in relation to the amount of alcohol people can access,” he said. “I welcome the restrictions — but in my opinion they don’t go far enough.” Liquor Stores Association of WA chief executive Peter Peck said a holistic approach is needed to tackle the alcohol abuse prevalent in the two towns and across the wider Kimberley region. “Broome and Derby need to be able to combat this issue with wraparound services,” Mr Peck said. “Without the right wraparound services for these people, they’re not going to get better. “You can take away the alcohol, but if you don’t deal with the the reason they’re drinking, then they’ll just find somewhere else to drink.” Mr Peck said there were lessons to be learned from what he believes was the mishandling of the rollout of Carnarvon alcohol restrictions in June last year. “The way Carnarvon was dealt with was horrendous,” he said. “The rhetoric that former Premier (Mark McGowan) wheeled out at the time was appalling, it gave people the impression you couldn’t drive through the town because it was a war zone. “I’m hoping clearer heads prevail on this one, that we can just focus on the problem and not demonise a community like they have in the past.” Despite his concerns, Mr Peck credited the positive impact the Banned Drinkers Register has had throughout the Kimberley. Reforms to the register in December saw numbers swell to more than 580 by January, more than double the number on the list before the changes came into force. “I think the register is fantastic, and the bigger it grows the better it is,” he said. “At the end of the day drinking is a privilege, it is not a right, and if you abuse it, you should lose it.”