Grog Bans

A difficult problem with no simple answers Grog bans in Aborigine communities are proving difficult to manage. Consider next year when I take my borthers-in-law on a trip to the Cape – are we allowed to take a couple of cartons and a bottle of rum through Bamaga. No! If we do we are subject to fines of up to $75,000 which definitely exceeds the $48.00 I paid for a six pack of rum and cola at Woolgoroo recently. Stories in the 4WD community tell of a drop-off of tourists at Bamaga due to this problem. Small wonder. I would think a blanket ban is not the way to go. If two or three guys in a 4WD have a couple of cartons and a Bundy rum bottle in their vehicle then authorities must be able to adjudge this as ‘for personal consumption’. Conversely, if a vehicle is found to have 50 cartons, a couple case of Bundy rum and a pallet of Monkeys blood then the same authorities should be able to throw the grog runners in goal and confiscate the vehicle, grog and any cash. Simple enough to me but the blanket ban will stop people going to the Cape in droves which will impact heavily on the commerce at Bamaga. The problem is grog running, not a tourist having supplies to allow for a couple of beers at the end of the day. Grog bans are not working for other reasons. When we recently drove down the Arnhem Highway we passed a small Aborigine community, the last heading south, and as we drove on we passed dozens of locals walking back to town. Gathering yams? one suggested; hunting? said another. Nothing so noble. A few kilometers south of the town we came across a sit-down area strewn with literally hundreds of empty stubbies. A rubbish tip of unworkable laws. True, the community was grog-free but the people weren’t. Another point generally unknown down south is that Kava is not counted as grog. An Aborigine leader in Nuhulunbuy told me a local Fijian who had been resident in town for years had started importing Kava as an answer. He now wished he hadn’t. Locals taking to home brew as an answer bypass the tried and true recipe of bottling then leaving to mature for a month or two. They drink it that day and suffer stomach poisoning as a result. Government workers – teachers and public servants are denied a drink after work or at the end of a hard week. I would think we could lock up the grog runners and allow other non indigenous people to drink if they do so within the state law.