Mayor’s son hit with sly grog fine

THE son of Palm Island’s mayor has been fined for sly grogging, five years after his father was busted committing the same offence.

Alfred Owen Lacey, 23, pleaded guilty to possession of prohibited liquor in a restricted area when he fronted Palm Island Magistrates Court on June 5.

Lacey ( Jnr) was charged by police on May 18 after his bags were searched at the Palm Island jetty after travelling by ferry from Townsville.

Police found two bottles of rum and one bottle of Stones green ginger wine in the 23year- old’s possession.

He was fined $ 250 with no conviction recorded.

Palm Island Mayor, Alf Lacey ( Snr), was fined $ 100 for sly grogging in 2013.

Cr Lacey has spoken out against alcohol prohibition on the island in the past, going as far to call it legislative racism.

Townsville Police Superintendent Steve Munro said officers regularly enforced the prohibited alcohol laws on the island, as the Queensland Police Service did in any area where such legislation was in force.

Supt Munro said nobody was exempt from the laws on Palm Island and police had charged visitors and locals alike.

Last week Katter’s Australia Party state leader Robbie Katter called on the government to reconsider its Alcohol Management Plan in another indigenous community further north.

Mr Katter said there needed to be a “rethink” on the alcohol ban imposed on the Mornington Island community in far North Queensland due to the increased danger of homebrewed “sly grog”.

“The community has been ravaged by this deadly brand of alcohol,” he said.

“The reports we are hearing is about three quarters of people on the island are drinking home brew regularly and kids, some as young as eight, are involved, not just drinking it but making it.

“The sly grog is devastating to people’s health and they are drinking it because they can’t buy a few beers.”