Town seeks restrictions to alcohol
A ban on the sale of takeaway full-strength beer and pre-mixed alcohol is part of amended alcohol restrictions being sought by Port Hedland’s police and mayor.
On January 20, a submission was made to the Director of Liquor Licensing from the Commissioner of Police seeking the imposition of conditions on licenses in Port Hedland, South Hedland and the surrounding communities.
The submission details a plethora of alcohol-related harm in the town, before requesting a list of restrictions to be introduced.
The police are seeking limits on the amount of takeaway alcohol and times it can be bought, as well as a complete ban on beer and pre-mixed alcohol higher than 3.5 per cent in strength.
As well as the ban on full strength takeaway sales, police are also asking that takeaway sales of spirits and fortified wines be limited to one bottle per custo-mer per day, and wine to three bottles.
The times in which takeaway alcohol can be bought is requested to be further limited from 2pm until 9pm Monday to Saturday.
The submission comes after a month of tense debates between the Town of Port Hedland Mayor and the Hedland Liquor Accord on whether to implement the Takeaway Alcohol Management System.
The submission also outlines recent incidents of alcohol-related disorder, violence and harm in South Hedland which indicate the perceived need for further restrictions.
In the submission, 2015 alcohol-related domestic assaults were at 7.74 per 1000 head of population in South Hedland, compared with 3.58 in Port Hedland and 1.56 in Metropolitan WA.
The 2016 statistics shows almost a triple in alcohol-related domestic assaults at 21.76 per 1000 head of population in South Hed-land, with Port Hedland almost doubling at 6.45 per 1000 head of population.
Similar statistic trends are also shown in the submission in terms of non-domestic assaults, threatening behaviour and police attendances.
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