NT tops nation’s alcohol deaths

THE rate of alcohol-related deaths in the Northern Territory is more than three times the national rate and by far the country’s highest, but the Northern Territory government insists it’s planned reforms will tackle the problem.

There were 16.7 alcohol-related deaths per 100,000 people in the NT last year, compared to just 5.1 nationally, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released this week.

Outside Darwin, where the indigenous proportion of the population is higher, alcoholinduced deaths were 28.5 people. The Gunner Labor government was elected in 2016, meaning last year’s deaths were under its watch.

Police minister Nicole Manison said they would introduce the “boldest alcohol reforms” in the NT’s history.

The author of those, former NT Supreme Court chief justice Trevor Riley, said the NT had among the highest rates of alcohol consumption anywhere in the world – 44 per cent drink at a risky level at least once a month, compared to 25% of people nationally.