New laws passed in Parliament giving Carnarvon police power to place people on BDR still unclear

Changes to give police the power to add people to banned drinkers registers have been passed in Parliament, but one of the Mid West-Gascoyne’s top officers says it’s still unclear how they will be enforced. Inspector Jon Munday doubted under the reforms that police would be proactively pursuing people just to get them on the BDR. A banned drinkers register was introduced to Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction in May, requiring alcohol sellers to scan a customer’s ID before purchase, stopping people on the banned list from buying takeaway alcohol. A Bill passed in Parliament last week will give police more power to put people on the register from mid-December. Another change is that anyone who commits alcohol offences, inside or outside of licensed venues — including drink-driving and alcohol-related violence and behaviour that results in a family violence restraining order — can be put on the register. Health professionals and social workers can also refer individuals to a BDR, which are also in operation in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Goldfields. Previously, people could only be placed on the BDR if they were subject to a barring notice or prohibition order, and only eight people were registered across the Gascoyne as of October. Carnarvon businesses were hit with the State’s harshest liquor restrictions in May when WA’s director of liquor licensing Lanie Chopping prohibited packaged liquor sales on Sunday and Monday, and allowed it only between midday and 7pm on other days. She also imposed daily volume limits for packaged liquor sales in a response to alcohol-related crime and antisocial behaviour in the town. Carnarvon Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Paul Dixon said the new legislation was great news for Carnarvon but he hoped local police had the capacity to ramp up the numbers on the register. “The BDR should be the weapon of choice rather than the weapon of last resort,” he said. “When people realise that you can be put on BDR in a much simpler system then there might be some effect.” “Police are under the pump all the time, there’s no respite. Let’s hope they have got the time and the resources to instigate these things because it brings about a consequence for the people that have caused the issues in not just Carnarvon, in all towns.” Insp. Munday said police were focusing on issuing barring notices for offences inside licensed venues and the new legislation was another step towards protecting communities from alcohol-related violence and antisocial behaviour. “We can see that over time, it is going to have a very good effect on the community, not only from an offending point of view, but we hope that we’ll see kids engaging with school, feeling safer at home because mum and dad aren’t abusing alcohol at all or as much as they used to,” he said. “Being able to stay at home at night, being able to get a good sleep and being able to re-engage in school and give themselves better prospects for their future.” But Insp. Munday said it was still unclear how police would enforce the new laws. “It’s all very fresh this legislation and we’ll take direction from the commissioner, but I can’t see there would be any benefit or any need to be going out and proactively targeting people purely to get them on the banned drinkers register. “We deal with things as they present in front of us and if that means getting put on the banned drinkers register, so be it, but I can’t see there would be a need for that to be happening.” Carnarvon Shire president Eddie Smith said the strengthened BDR could deter people from doing the wrong thing. “Anything that’s going to reduce the impact of liquor in our town is wonderful thing,” he said. “There’s liquor outlets that will be impacted, but selling more and more grog to people doing the wrong thing doesn’t help the whole community.” Anyone who supplies takeaway alcohol to banned drinkers could face fines up to $10,000.