KATHERINE Town Council Mayor Fay Miller has praised a decision to introduce plastic wine bottles in a bid to curb the amount of broken glass littering the town but says the “negligent” Northern Territory government needs to get serious about addressing alcohol abuse in the community.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Katherine Liquor Accord announced last week that it had received unanimous support from local retailers - with the exception of BWS, which is owned by supermarket giant Woolworths - at a meeting on August 7 to purchase wine in plastic bottles at the “earliest possible convenience”.
The meeting was in response to a letter sent to Alcohol Policy Minister David Tollner by the council on August 1 that called for action to be taken on the issue.
In the letter, Ms Miller slammed the government and said it had been “negligent” by allowing individual regions to come up with solutions to problems caused by alcohol abuse.
When the Katherine Times asked Mr Tollner if he believed Ms Miller’s scathing comments were fair, he said he did not think it was the responsibility of the government to intervene “every time there is a problem”.
“I’m a bit disappointed that the council wouldn’t look in their own backyard first before screaming the government had to step in,” he said.
“Cleaning up rubbish and glass is hardly the responsibility of the NT government.
“The concern that I hear from the council is that they’re worried about the litter.”
Ms Miller said she was “absolutely ecstatic” that liquor retailers had thrown their support behind the push to clean up Katherine but added that the problem was caused by the government’s failure to effectively combat alcohol abuse, both locally and across the NT.
“It’s [Mr Tollner’s] job to sort out the alcohol problem in the NT,” she said angrily.
“It’s the result of ad-hoc policies that this amount of litter is left for local
governments to pick up.”
The council has invested more than $8000 to buy two specialised pedestrian vacuum sweepers to clean up the broken glass but Ms Miller said she did not believe it was fair to burden Katherine’s small ratepayer base with the bill for what was essentially a failed government policy.
“It’s down to the quantities sold and the way people can buy what they want, when they want,” she said.
Mr Tollner said the government wanted communities to take responsibility for local problems, citing the 2013 decision by Tennant Creek liquor retailers to also sell cheap wine in plastic bottles as a positive outcome.
“That’s why we’re so keen to see local communities take control of local problems,” he said.
“It’s certainly not a solution to alcohol abuse ... but it’s certainly fixed up some of those litter problems and the public danger of broken glass.
“In relation to the broader issues of public drunkeness and all of that, we are very keen to promote personal responsibility.”
KLA chairman Frank Dalton said he was “pretty happy with the outcome”.
“It’s going to be very similar [to what’s happened with plastic bottles in Tennant Creek],” he said.
“There will be two types of chardonnay in plastic bottles.
“It’s only the lower end of the market that’s causing the problem in the community at the moment.
“The Penfolds Grange won’t be going into plastic, you can quote me on that.”
When Woolworths Liquor Group was questioned whether it intended to also begin selling wine in plastic bottles, a spokesperson said no decision had been made, adding that the company took its “responsibilities as an alcohol retailer very seriously”.
“We have not been contacted by the local council in Katherine on the issue of broken glass but we would be happy to discuss this if they believe we can assist,” the spokesperson said.
“We have already removed casks and cheaper bottled wines from our Katherine store, and, consequently, the receipt rewards offers only apply to higher-priced wines.”
The spokesperson would not confirm what WLG classified as “cheaper bottled wines” but when the Katherine Times went to press, at least six different white wine were being sold for $7.99 per bottle.