❓ The Minister for Racing and Gaming outlines recent alcohol restrictions placed on Kimberley communities, including Yakanarra, Bayulu, Kundat Djaru, Koongie Park, and Nicholson Block, implemented under Section 175 of the Liquor Control Act, and highlights the importance of community and police support for these bans.
AnsweredQoN 428Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LIQUOR BANS — KIMBERLEY COMMUNITIES
Could the minister please advise the house of the most recent alcohol restrictions placed on communities in the Kimberley? Mr T.K. WALDRON
Could the minister please advise the house of the most recent alcohol restrictions placed on communities in the Kimberley? Mr T.K. WALDRON
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for North West for the question. I have no doubt that he cares very much about alcohol-related issues in his region, because I have seen it firsthand. On 21 April of this year I informed the house that I had agreed to alcohol bans in the Fitzroy Valley communities of Yakanarra and Bayulu. That decision was taken under section 175 of the Liquor Control Act and followed a request by the leadership of those communities. The necessary regulations have since been passed and the bans are now in place. I want to inform the house and report that on Friday, 30 July I visited three more communities in response to their requests for voluntary alcohol bans. This time it was in the Halls Creek area. The communities are the Kundat Djaru, also know as Ringer Soak, which is situated 172 kilometres south east; Koongie Park, which is 20 kilometres south west of Halls Creek; and Nicholson Block, which is three kilometres from Halls Creek, just on the edge of the main town. These requests also relate to section 175 of the Liquor Control Act, which provides for a regulation to declare an area restricted and, therefore, banning the bringing in, possession and consumption of alcohol in those communities. Just to remind members, the police are then able to enforce the ban and there are strong offence and seizure powers to deal with any instances of noncompliance once those communities are declared. The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
Mr T.K. WALDRON replied: I thank the member for North West for the question. I have no doubt that he cares very much about alcohol-related issues in his region, because I have seen it firsthand. On 21 April of this year I informed the house that I had agreed to alcohol bans in the Fitzroy Valley communities of Yakanarra and Bayulu. That decision was taken under section 175 of the Liquor Control Act and followed a request by the leadership of those communities. The necessary regulations have since been passed and the bans are now in place. I want to inform the house and report that on Friday, 30 July I visited three more communities in response to their requests for voluntary alcohol bans. This time it was in the Halls Creek area. The communities are the Kundat Djaru, also know as Ringer Soak, which is situated 172 kilometres south east; Koongie Park, which is 20 kilometres south west of Halls Creek; and Nicholson Block, which is three kilometres from Halls Creek, just on the edge of the main town. These requests also relate to section 175 of the Liquor Control Act, which provides for a regulation to declare an area restricted and, therefore, banning the bringing in, possession and consumption of alcohol in those communities. Just to remind members, the police are then able to enforce the ban and there are strong offence and seizure powers to deal with any instances of noncompliance once those communities are declared. The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
I thank the member for North West for the question. I have no doubt that he cares very much about alcohol-related issues in his region, because I have seen it firsthand. On 21 April of this year I informed the house that I had agreed to alcohol bans in the Fitzroy Valley communities of Yakanarra and Bayulu. That decision was taken under section 175 of the Liquor Control Act and followed a request by the leadership of those communities. The necessary regulations have since been passed and the bans are now in place. I want to inform the house and report that on Friday, 30 July I visited three more communities in response to their requests for voluntary alcohol bans. This time it was in the Halls Creek area. The communities are the Kundat Djaru, also know as Ringer Soak, which is situated 172 kilometres south east; Koongie Park, which is 20 kilometres south west of Halls Creek; and Nicholson Block, which is three kilometres from Halls Creek, just on the edge of the main town. These requests also relate to section 175 of the Liquor Control Act, which provides for a regulation to declare an area restricted and, therefore, banning the bringing in, possession and consumption of alcohol in those communities. Just to remind members, the police are then able to enforce the ban and there are strong offence and seizure powers to deal with any instances of noncompliance once those communities are declared. The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
Mr T.K. WALDRON replied: I thank the member for North West for the question. I have no doubt that he cares very much about alcohol-related issues in his region, because I have seen it firsthand. On 21 April of this year I informed the house that I had agreed to alcohol bans in the Fitzroy Valley communities of Yakanarra and Bayulu. That decision was taken under section 175 of the Liquor Control Act and followed a request by the leadership of those communities. The necessary regulations have since been passed and the bans are now in place. I want to inform the house and report that on Friday, 30 July I visited three more communities in response to their requests for voluntary alcohol bans. This time it was in the Halls Creek area. The communities are the Kundat Djaru, also know as Ringer Soak, which is situated 172 kilometres south east; Koongie Park, which is 20 kilometres south west of Halls Creek; and Nicholson Block, which is three kilometres from Halls Creek, just on the edge of the main town. These requests also relate to section 175 of the Liquor Control Act, which provides for a regulation to declare an area restricted and, therefore, banning the bringing in, possession and consumption of alcohol in those communities. Just to remind members, the police are then able to enforce the ban and there are strong offence and seizure powers to deal with any instances of noncompliance once those communities are declared. The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
I thank the member for North West for the question. I have no doubt that he cares very much about alcohol-related issues in his region, because I have seen it firsthand. On 21 April of this year I informed the house that I had agreed to alcohol bans in the Fitzroy Valley communities of Yakanarra and Bayulu. That decision was taken under section 175 of the Liquor Control Act and followed a request by the leadership of those communities. The necessary regulations have since been passed and the bans are now in place. I want to inform the house and report that on Friday, 30 July I visited three more communities in response to their requests for voluntary alcohol bans. This time it was in the Halls Creek area. The communities are the Kundat Djaru, also know as Ringer Soak, which is situated 172 kilometres south east; Koongie Park, which is 20 kilometres south west of Halls Creek; and Nicholson Block, which is three kilometres from Halls Creek, just on the edge of the main town. These requests also relate to section 175 of the Liquor Control Act, which provides for a regulation to declare an area restricted and, therefore, banning the bringing in, possession and consumption of alcohol in those communities. Just to remind members, the police are then able to enforce the ban and there are strong offence and seizure powers to deal with any instances of noncompliance once those communities are declared. The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
The proposed bans for these three communities have the support of the police, the local shires, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Drug and Alcohol Office. I want to again stress that these can be effective only when there is support by the vast majority of the community. On my visits I saw that these three communities in particular were very strong in their support and in their leadership, which was very pleasing to see. That is why I always think it is important that I visit and see for myself. Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
Mr P.B. Watson : Minister, will you provide support services for them? Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
Mr T.K. WALDRON : I will come to that. On my visits I was accompanied by Acting Superintendent Jim Cave of the Kimberley police district and Senior Sergeant Jason Van Der Ende, the officer in charge at Halls Creek. I just want to thank them and acknowledge their support. It is really important that if we are to have these bans and they are to work. The police support the communities. Generally, that has been really good. When we do not think it is happening, we certainly follow up on that through the police themselves. It has generally been outstanding, so I wanted to congratulate them on that. On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
On this basis I have agreed to proceed to implement alcohol bans in Kundat Djaru, Nicholson Block and Koongie Park communities for an initial period of three years, which the communities have asked for and which I particularly consulted them about. I have instructed the necessary regulations to be prepared. Once these go through, it will bring to 10 the number of remote communities that now have the section 175 bans. The system is working well. It gains momentum when people see the benefit of it. There are further applications for consideration. The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
The follow-up, which the member for Kimberley has raised with me on occasions, and I thank her for that, and the support services et cetera are very important. Across government we are certainly working to make sure that those support services are there. In some cases it is hard to have everything that we want there all the time, but we are certainly working with our best endeavours to make sure that we are doing it a lot better. That is why the Drug and Alcohol Office, health, police and all are involved. These bans usually result from a voluntary request. I also want to stress again that we do not implement them automatically. If communities apply and we do not think that the communities are in a position to do it because it is not in their best interests and we feel that the ban will not work because it has not got community support, we will continue to work with those communities and look at other measures. Then maybe a time will come when we can implement them in those communities. I congratulate the people of those three communities for their strength and leadership not only in requesting these bans, but also in ensuring that they happen.
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