Examining Policy Elements of the NTER for Alcohol Reduction Strategies

This essay examines the policy elements of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) aimed at reducing alcohol consumption, particularly among Indigenous Australians. It discusses the adverse consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, the specific policy elements of NTER including restrictions on sale, purchase, and consumption of alcohol, and measures to tackle alcohol abuse. The essay also highlights the limitations of NTER policies, such as black market slogging and displacement of drinking issues, and proposes alternative strategies like reducing liquor outlets, restricting cheap alcohol, and implementing health programs. The document emphasizes the need for effective implementation of health programs to promote awareness about the health-related issues of excessive alcohol consumption. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

Running head: POLICY ELEMENTS OF THE NTER FOR ALCOHOL REDUCTION
Policy elements of the NTER for alcohol reduction
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

POLICY ELEMENTS OF THE NTER FOR ALCOHOL REDUCTION 1
Synopsis:
Excessive consumption of alcohol is a problem because of its adverse consequences on the
environment and to the individuals of the community (Waterworth et al., 2016). The issue
related to alcohol has been a significant problem among the aboriginal people in the northern
territory. It has been noted as the biggest reason for crimes among the community which
results in the reduction of life expectancy, education, employment status and poor health.
The intervention was a package of legislation targeting the indigenous communities in the
northern territory. The NTER policies were developed and implemented to put restrictions on
alcohol, changes to welfare payments, employment, and education and health initiatives. The
specific policy elements of NTER include a restriction on sale, purchase, and consumption of
alcohol in prescribed areas. Besides, it also included a collection of compulsory information
for the bulk purchase of alcohol and introduction of new penalty provisions. One of the key
policy elements introduced in 2013 legislative package included tackling of alcohol abuse
measure ("Review of the harmful use of alcohol amongst Indigenous Australians", 2013).
The main purpose of this measure was to introduce special measures for reducing alcohol-
related farms to aboriginal people in the northern territory. One of the most widely used
psychoactive drugs in Australia is alcohol. It is believed that white people introduced alcohol
to the aboriginal people. Many believe that drinking is a part of the aboriginal culture and
only real Australian people engage in the alcohol consumption (Yu, Duncan & Gray, 2008).
Some of the factors that limited the effectiveness of the NTER policies in alcohol
consumption include black market slogging and displacement o drinking issues to other
areas. Restrictions by the implemented policies do not work effectively unless they are
enforced and addressed the reason for drinking. Besides, limitation of enforcement is
applicable to general provisions of liquor licensing legislation that include responsible
servings of alcohol.
Measurement of the effectiveness of the previous strategies that have been used is difficult
since it is impossible to discrete the effect of alcohol restriction in aboriginal communities
since community people are standing on alcohol restrictions. Besides alcohol restrictions
have resulted to cause the annual supply of alcohol in the market to drop drastically (Evans,
2012). Previous alcohol restriction strategies have also resulted in the community people to
engage in illicit alcohol trafficking and increased alcohol-related crimes. Hence alternative

POLICY ELEMENTS OF THE NTER FOR ALCOHOL REDUCTION 2
strategies need to be implemented. Some of the alternative measures for the reduction of
alcohol consumption are reducing the number and types of liquor outlets, reducing trading
hours, restricting cheap alcohol products and adopting minimum price benchmark. Besides,
introduction to permit systems to encourage responsible and safe drinking and reforming the
license commission and NT Liquor Act are some of the major alternative strategies that can
be effective for reducing alcohol consumption ("Review of the harmful use of alcohol
amongst Indigenous Australians", 2013). Effective implementation of health programs to
promote and make the people of the community in the Northern Territory aware of the
health-related issues for excessive alcohol consumption needs to be done.

POLICY ELEMENTS OF THE NTER FOR ALCOHOL REDUCTION 3
References
Evans, B. W. (2012), Northern Territory Emergency Response: Criticism, support and
redesign. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 20: 103-107. doi:10.1111/j.1440-
1584.2012.01265.x
Review of the harmful use of alcohol amongst Indigenous Australians. (2013).
Healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au. Retrieved 10 April 2018, from
http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/uploads/docs/alcohol-pl-review.pdf
Waterworth, P., Dimmock, J., Pescud, M., Braham, R., & Rosenberg, M. (2016). Factors
affecting indigenous west Australians’ health behavior: Indigenous perspectives.
Qualitative health research, 26(1), 55-68.
Yu, P., Duncan, M., & Gray, B. (2008). NORTHERN TERRITORY EMERGENCY
RESPONSE REPORT OF THE NTER REVIEW BOARD (pp. 20-54). Canberra:
Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved from
http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/bibliography/?lid=14101