Indigenous Australians and liquor licensing restrictions

In Australia laws relating to the sale and consumption of alcohol are the prerogative of state and territory governments. Until the 1960s, in all jurisdictions, laws were in place which prohibited the sale of alcohol to, or the consumption of alcohol by, Indigenous Australians. Following the repeal of those laws, there was a rapid increase in consumption by some sections of the Indigenous Australian population. Recent research has shown that the proportion of Indigenous Australians who consume alcohol on an occasional or frequent basis is lower than that among the non-indigenous population. However, in aggregate, those Indigenous Australians who do consume alcohol do so at levels greatly in excess of levels among non-indigenous people, resulting in a variety of harms at both the individual and community level. This pattern of consumption and harm—re ected to varying degrees among the indigenous populations of countries such as New Zealand, Canada and the United States—is rooted in the legacy of European colonialism. As the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has made clear, this legacy continues and is re ected in poverty, marginalization, discrimination, and their consequences. The Race Discrimination Commissioner has linked the disadvantage faced by, and neglect of, Indigenous Australians to the infringement of their human rights by the wider Australian society. In this context, much excessive consumption is: a response to dispossession and grief; a response to boredom as a result of exclusion from the mainstream economy and its beneŽ ts; one of the few cheap recreational activities available; and a protest at the imposition of a range of bureaucratic controls. Some efforts are being made to redress the fundamental inequalities faced by Indigenous Australians from which the patterns of consumption found among them arise. In addition, Commonwealth and state/territory governments fund a number of programmes aimed speciŽ cally at addressing the harms arising from, or associated with, excessive alcohol consumption among Indigenous Australians. Some of the services funded under these programmes are delivered by government agencies but, more importantly, a large number have been developed, and are provided by, Indigenous community-controlled organizations. As well as such programmes, in recent years some Indigenous communitycontrolled organizations have attempted to use liquor licensing laws to restrict the supply of alcohol and, hence, to reduce consequent harm.