The fact that any individual elected to represent the best interests of their community continues to argue otherwise in the face of growing quantitative evidence defies logic.

When TBLs were rolled out in December 2014, the effect they had on alcohol-fuelled violence and antisocial behaviour was immediate, and the Giles government policy quickly garnered praise from every corner of the community, including this publication.

However, within six months of police having a permanent presence in bottle shops, it became apparent that, as Ms Fyles hinted during her adjournment speech in Parliament this month, there was an “unintended consequence” of doing so that no one had anticipated.

The improved aesthetic and atmosphere of Katherine since the arrival of TBLs has been dramatic and welcomed, but the policy has simply moved problem drinkers on, rather than tackled alcohol abuse as an scourge with broader social implications.

The dilemma is that friends and family members who would have previously accompanied the people the policy targets to Katherine to shop are no longer spending their money here, because the problem drinkers are now heading to Darwin to satisfy their alcohol dependence.

You do not have to go far in Katherine at the moment to find business owners who are not involved with the supply of alcohol screwing their faces up at disappointing financial reports.

There are a few bucking the trend, but even they admit the statistical anomaly cannot be explained.

Yet we have elected representatives at two levels of government still espousing the virtues of TBLs as they stick their heads in sand about the true economic cost police uniforms in bottle shops are having on Katherine.

 Is the reintroduction of the banned drinkers’ register worth consideration by the next Northern Territory government?

Time will tell, but the one thing that is a certainty now is that empty shops and nosediving bottom lines cannot continue to be used as the Territory’s political football.