Draft:Liquor Act 2019 (Northern Territory)

The Liquor Act 2019 is an act of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, which introduces a statutory minimum price for alcohol, initially AU$ 1.30 per unit, also known as "standard drink", as an element in the programme to counter alcohol problems.

Background
In 2010, a report was published into alcohol culture in the Northern Territory, suggesting that alcohol was one of the main causes of indigenous child abuse in the territory.

In 2010, the Northern Territory had the highest proportion of deaths due to alcohol consumption across all jurisdictions in Australia.

In 2013, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory described drinking culture as a 'core social value' of the Northern Terrritory.

The Northern Territory has had a long history of alcohol abuse, with 44% of people in the territory drinking alcohol at a level that put them at risk of injury in the past month.

Riley Review
In October 2017, the Riley review into alcohol legislation in the territory was published. The report recommended sweeping changes to the Liquor Act 1978.

Impact
Initially there was a community backlash against the act - several Territory Labor Party members of the Legislative Assembly acknowledged that communication around the act had not been handled well, that the party was 'in a muddle'.

Three years after the introduction of the policy, a review painted a mixed picture of the success of minimum unit pricing, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic had creating confounding factors which meant all available results were significantly reduced.

The increase of the price from the initial value of AU$1.30 to AU$1.50 will give researchers a second chance to study the impact of the increased minimum price.