Alcohol limits for NT boaters

It’s taken up till now for the local Northern Territory Government to finally take action about its drinking problem, with plans to implement the drink-driving limits and laws on the Top End's roads for boat operators on its waterways.

There has previously been no limit for drunk boating in the Top End. This is at odds with the Queensland alcohol boating and at-anchor laws
and NSW, where the Water Police recently began random drug testing of boaters (as we reported in this link).

We’ve seen fishos with a Darwin stubby in one hand and a baitcaster in the other. We’ve also seen some troppo Top Enders surfing their tinnies hands-free at high speed down croc-infested waters. You see it all up here.

But in a long overdue move to make boating and fishing safer in this wild frontier, the Territory Labor Government has welcomed an Alcohol Policy and Legislation Review recently handed to it by the Chair of the Expert Alcohol Panel and former Chief Justice of the NT, Trevor Riley.

The review provides 220 recommendations on reforms to alcohol policy and legislation, after identifying an ad-hoc system that isn’t fit for purpose. Yep, the Top End has long been known as a drinking town with a fishing problem.

The Territory Labor Government has now given support in principle to a number of liquor industry and legislative changes including to alcohol and boats.

NEW 0.05 LEGISLATION
The Government says it will support legislation to make it an offence for a person to operate or navigate a vessel with a breath or blood alcohol content equivalent to the levels in the Traffic Act. That is, 0.05.

The Attorney-General and Minister for Health Natasha Fyles said a key driver in commissioning the report was to reduce alcohol-related harm.

"While the government supports a number of reforms in principle, considerable consultation and work will be needed to establish what form these reforms will take and how they will be rolled out in the Territory context," Ms Fyles said.

The NT Labor Government will now reconsider its alcohol policies in line with the review recommendations to deliver a road map for change. The detailed response to the report is expected to be complete by early next year.

The unusual aspect of the NT boating scene is that no licence or boat registration is required at all on the Territory's waters. But authorities are confident they can still bring in drink-boating laws all the same.

Effective policing in the vast Northern Territory might be somewhat harder the achieve. But in every other state and territory, alcohol has been linked to a high incidence of boating accidents and tragedy. Anything we can do to reduce that — and the indigenous drinking problem — is not before time.

OTHER NT BOATING SAFETY MEASURES
In other marine safety news in the NT, the local Parliament recently passed a bill to amend the criminal code so dangerous navigation of a vessel causing death or serious harm is an offence.

If found guilty of seriously injuring someone, the boat driver will face a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. For causing death, the penalty can rise to 10 years in prison.

There has been legal loophole that has seen skippers involved in collisions avoid criminal charges.

The NT has one of the highest rates of boat ownership per capita in Australia. Boat skippers do not need to be licensed.

More at Marine Safety in the NT.