NAAJA - Aboriginal legal aid for the Top End

You are at: Home > Contact > News > 2009 > December

Media Release

Wednesday 02/Dec/2009 (1017 hrs CST)

Response to Alcohol Court Reforms

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Alcohol Court Discussion Paper – Joint Submission

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), on behalf of a Coalition of specialist organisations, expresses their significant concerns over possible changes to the Alcohol Court. The coalition has prepared a joint submission in response to the Alcohol Court Reforms Discussion Paper.

The Coalition comprises the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission, Darwin Community Legal Service, Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Amity Community Services Inc, Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT), NT Council of Social Service, People’s Alcohol Action Coalition, Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services (CAAPS) and FORWAARD Aboriginal Corporation.

The Coalition welcomes the opportunity to make comments as to improving the Alcohol Court, which is an important therapeutic diversionary scheme. However, we are extremely concerned about (a) the possible use of the Alcohol Court for people who haven’t committed offences, (b) flaws in the current Alcohol Court model and (c) the inadequate resourcing of alcohol rehabilitation services.

Health-Based Response is Needed

The NT Government includes in their Discussion Paper a proposal to change the Alcohol Court so that people who haven't committed offences or who have committed minor offences where infringement notices are issued should be forced to undertake compulsory alcohol rehabilitation as part of the Alcohol Court.

It would mean people suffering alcohol dependency would be treated the same as people who are in the Alcohol Court having committed offences. The Coalition strongly considers that people who are alcohol-dependent should not be brought into the criminal justice system for what is a health issue. Once in the criminal justice system, they would be placed on alcohol intervention orders which are akin to being placed on the strictest sentence available to the criminal justice system - and which requires abstinence. In the Coalition’s view, this potentially would see people going to jail who breach alcohol intervention orders, but who have not actually committed any offence.

Improving the Alcohol Court

There are three deficiencies we explicitly highlight:

The Coalition considers that the purpose and objectives of the Alcohol Court need to move beyond the prohibition model. We feel that a model that requires people to abstain from alcohol for very lengthy periods is not realistic;
We recommend that the Alcohol Court operate in a similar model to the CREDIT NT program. In our view, the CREDIT program succeeds because it is a bail program which adopts a “carrot and a stick approach”, especially in giving incentives to people for positive performance. And as with CREDIT, if people are not re-offending, that should be the more important consideration.
The Alcohol Court excludes too many people who would otherwise be suitable to refer to the program - people with violent charges, or violence on record, people on suspended sentences, people on parole, people under 18 and people who are pleading not guilty or may not be pleading guilty.

Rehabilitation Services

We call on the Government to provide additional resources to address the shortage of culturally-appropriate rehabilitation services. With lengthy waiting lists in Darwin, we are particularly concerned about regional and remote areas where only a few services are available. Whereas it is often claimed that the cost of further funding rehabilitation services is prohibitive, we argue that when this is compared to the cost of prison, the choice becomes clear. In 2007/08, it cost $269 per day to hold a person in jail in Australia. This compares to $161.50 per day to actually address the underlying issues in a structured and culturally-appropriate alcohol rehabilitation program.

The Coalition considers that reducing alcohol-related crime requires a three-pronged approach: restricting alcohol availability, properly resourced and culturally appropriate rehabilitation options and a trauma-informed care approach that works with people as according to their actual needs. And most importantly, that people are not brought into the criminal justice system for health issues but are provided with appropriate, dignified alcohol treatment services.

Contact:

Glen Dooley (08) 8982 5156 or 0427045665

email: glen.dooley@naaja.org.au

Back