Govt signs off dry zone extension
The Adelaide parklands alcohol curfew will remain in force for an extra six months.
The State Government this morning signed off the extension following a request by Adelaide City Council.
The dry zone trial, which bans alcohol between 8pm and 1pm the next day, was due to finish next Monday.
Earlier this month, the council’s formal evaluation of the trial dry zone had recommended the extension.
It found that the number of people gathering in the parklands had decreased, but that the decrease could not be directly attributed to the dry zone, and that there had not been enough time to evaluate the impact of the policy.
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Business Services and Consumers Minister Gail Gago said the state government will continue the trial so that more data can be collected.
“An extension will ensure the review considers the city in normal and peak conditions,” Gago said.
“We will use this extra time to conduct a more robust review of how the trial is helping reduce alcohol-related and anti-social incidents, without removing the opportunity for support services to appropriately address the health and welfare needs of people who gather in these areas.
“We are targeting alcohol-related, anti-social behaviour.
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“This is a complex issue and the decision to extend was made with careful consideration of all those affected.”
The evaluation considered the results of a consultation, which was limited to small numbers of respondents on Adelaide City Council’s website, and about 150 people surveyed in the parklands.
Out of the 24 people who responded to the question “Are you supportive of the current trial Dry Area across the Adelaide Park Lands?” on the council’s website, 17 answered “yes”.
Almost half of those surveyed (45 per cent) were undecided about the effect of the trial on anti-social behaviour in the parklands, while 37 per cent said the dry zone had caused a reduction in anti-social behaviour, and 19 per cent felt the dry zone had had no impact.
The report conceded the curfew had failed to meet one of its central aims: “not creating a displacement of the issues to another part of the parklands”.
It said police and social service providers had turned their attention to areas around the Riverbank, Torrens Parade Ground, West Terrace, Adelaide Convention Centre and Jolley’s Boathouse.
The Senior Officers Group (SOG) – made up of representatives from Adelaide City Council and several state government departments, including SA Police – said that “while the reduction in congregation to drink in the South Parklands is a positive outcome for the local community, there has been displacement to other areas … which does not indicate a solution to the core issues”.
“The SOG is also concerned about the potential criminalisation of the group through expiations for breaches of the Dry Area legislation, where expiations are issued with little capacity for payment by vulnerable people.”
Social service providers have previously expressed concern that the dry zone was moving violent behaviour to different parts of the city and into nearby suburbs.
Photo: Nat Rogers / InDaily
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