Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
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NT town residents call for change after six killed walking 25km home from legal drinking spot
On the baking asphalt of the Central Arnhem Highway, a large red stain remains visible across the road.
Locals are driving around it, sending dust into the air as tyres hit the dirt.
No-one wants to traverse this bloody reminder of a fatal accident that occurred a fortnight earlier.
"It hurts us a lot," Conway Wirrpanda-Blanasi says as he stands next to the roadside memorial for his son-in-law.
"We are trying to stop our young people from getting killed, and it's very emotional for all of us."
This is one of around half a dozen alcohol-related deaths that have occurred in the past decade on a small stretch of the highway near Barunga, 300 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
Now, a group of community leaders is searching for solutions, aware that without action, more fatalities are inevitable.
"This will never stop. It will never stop," Barunga resident Anita Painter said.
The tragic irony is that all of these deaths are linked to a policy aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm.
Drinking area 20 kilometres away
Liquor has been restricted in Barunga, and other remote communities across the Territory, since the federal intervention in 2007.
A permit system allows some residents without criminal records to drink in Barunga.
But for others, the only option is to head to a drinking area on the side of the highway, about 25 kilometres away.
It's at night, as the drinkers walk back heavily inebriated, that the risk of being hit by vehicles becomes a dangerous reality.
In 2013, a husband and wife who had been consuming alcohol at the roadside drinking area were runover by a truck.
"When the husband tried to run to grab the wife, it was too late," Barunga resident Anne-Marie Lee said.
"The truck was just here and it went bang, bang ? hit both of them.
"Two tragedies, one night."
Ms Lee said it was discriminatory that community residents were forced to drink alcohol in such a dangerous place.
"They have to walk because they want to get home to their family. They want to sleep on a decent bed," she said.
"You know white people could do that, but why do our people have to sit out here in this restricted area, sit and drink?"
Call for community-driven solutions
There are no easy solutions to the problem.
Some residents would prefer alcohol restrictions remain in place in Barunga.
"I really would like this place to be a dry community," Ms Painter said.
"Because I know alcohol effects especially the kids coming to school every day.
"When we have a lot of drunks around it causes attendance [to fall]."
But she and others recognise that with deaths mounting, alternatives need to be considered.
One option is a family-oriented social club, where limits can be placed on the strength and number of drinks.
"The benefit of having a social club in our community is to ensure that our people are drinking safely, in moderation," local resident Helen Lee said.
"The kids and the family then know where their parents [are]. And it can be policed better."
Another idea is an expansion of the liquor permit system.
It currently focusses on a person's criminal record, but Mr Wirrpanda-Blanasi said the system could also be used to encourage parents to get their children to attend school and medical check-ups.
"If all that doesn't happen you will go on a drinking register list, saying 'Right, you stuffed up, you will have to go on probation'," he said.
Locals continue to work with police to find an ongoing solution, but Ms Lee said the process must be driven by the community.
"It can't be driven by any other stakeholder except for us," she said.
"Because it is our people that are endangered out there. Not anyone else. Our people. Our loved ones."
Indigenous Affairs Minister and NT Senator Nigel Scullion declined to comment.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-...lawed-alcohol-policy-pedestrian-death/9920482
On the baking asphalt of the Central Arnhem Highway, a large red stain remains visible across the road.
Locals are driving around it, sending dust into the air as tyres hit the dirt.
No-one wants to traverse this bloody reminder of a fatal accident that occurred a fortnight earlier.
"It hurts us a lot," Conway Wirrpanda-Blanasi says as he stands next to the roadside memorial for his son-in-law.
"We are trying to stop our young people from getting killed, and it's very emotional for all of us."
This is one of around half a dozen alcohol-related deaths that have occurred in the past decade on a small stretch of the highway near Barunga, 300 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
Now, a group of community leaders is searching for solutions, aware that without action, more fatalities are inevitable.
"This will never stop. It will never stop," Barunga resident Anita Painter said.
The tragic irony is that all of these deaths are linked to a policy aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm.
Drinking area 20 kilometres away
Liquor has been restricted in Barunga, and other remote communities across the Territory, since the federal intervention in 2007.
A permit system allows some residents without criminal records to drink in Barunga.
But for others, the only option is to head to a drinking area on the side of the highway, about 25 kilometres away.
It's at night, as the drinkers walk back heavily inebriated, that the risk of being hit by vehicles becomes a dangerous reality.
In 2013, a husband and wife who had been consuming alcohol at the roadside drinking area were runover by a truck.
"When the husband tried to run to grab the wife, it was too late," Barunga resident Anne-Marie Lee said.
"The truck was just here and it went bang, bang ? hit both of them.
"Two tragedies, one night."
Ms Lee said it was discriminatory that community residents were forced to drink alcohol in such a dangerous place.
"They have to walk because they want to get home to their family. They want to sleep on a decent bed," she said.
"You know white people could do that, but why do our people have to sit out here in this restricted area, sit and drink?"
Call for community-driven solutions
There are no easy solutions to the problem.
Some residents would prefer alcohol restrictions remain in place in Barunga.
"I really would like this place to be a dry community," Ms Painter said.
"Because I know alcohol effects especially the kids coming to school every day.
"When we have a lot of drunks around it causes attendance [to fall]."
But she and others recognise that with deaths mounting, alternatives need to be considered.
One option is a family-oriented social club, where limits can be placed on the strength and number of drinks.
"The benefit of having a social club in our community is to ensure that our people are drinking safely, in moderation," local resident Helen Lee said.
"The kids and the family then know where their parents [are]. And it can be policed better."
Another idea is an expansion of the liquor permit system.
It currently focusses on a person's criminal record, but Mr Wirrpanda-Blanasi said the system could also be used to encourage parents to get their children to attend school and medical check-ups.
"If all that doesn't happen you will go on a drinking register list, saying 'Right, you stuffed up, you will have to go on probation'," he said.
Locals continue to work with police to find an ongoing solution, but Ms Lee said the process must be driven by the community.
"It can't be driven by any other stakeholder except for us," she said.
"Because it is our people that are endangered out there. Not anyone else. Our people. Our loved ones."
Indigenous Affairs Minister and NT Senator Nigel Scullion declined to comment.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-...lawed-alcohol-policy-pedestrian-death/9920482
