19 July 1991
Dear Mr Ede,
Further to my letter of 9 July 1991 I have now had the contents
of Mr Reyburn's letter to the Sessional Committee on the Use and
Abuse of Alcohol investigated by the Alice Springs Office. They
advise as follows:
Ti Tree Roadhouse caters for aboriginal people from six (6)
communities as well as local town campers. Although there are no
conditions attached to the Ti Tree Roadhouse liquor licence
restricting the supply of liquor to local aboriginals the
Roadhouse management and aboriginal elders have an agreement in
this area.This agreement has been in place for some years and
from my information is working very well.
The residents of local communities drink at the Roadhouse between
1:00 pm and 3:30 pm each day. Where entertainment is provided in
the evening the afternoon session is cancelled. At the request
of the local elders the sale of liquor may cease for days or
weeks whilst they carry out sorry business or other community
activities. During sporting events at Ti Tree only light beer is
sold.
During the agreed drinking times liquor is sold over the bar, it
can then be consumed in the bar or a large outdoor beer garden
on the southern side of the Roadhouse.
Early in the week only 8 to 10 persons attend the premises, this
increases to over fifty (50) Thursdays to Saturdays. Thursday is
pay day, one week for the young men the next for the old.
The operators of the Roadhouse deny that intoxicated persons are
sold or supplied with liquor but they admit that on busy days
they do have problems with other people buying liquor and
supplying it to people in the beer garden who have already been
advised by staff that they will not be provided with any more
drink.
In relation to Mr Reyburn's comments about the aboriginal people
being drunk outside the premises these people have been refused
entry to the premises for being intoxicated or having been to
another licensed premises to consume liquor earlier that day.
Part of the agreement between the operators of the Roadhouse and
local aboriginals is that where it is known that people have been
drinking at Aileron or in Alice Springs earlier that day they are
refused service at Ti Tree.
On pay days especially young men's pay day there are several
people in the community who have motor vehicles and travel to
Alice Springs and obtain large quantities of beer and wine. Many
of these people arrive at the Ti Tree Roadhouse intoxicated. They
are refused entry to the Roadhouse but do not leave the area
because they wish to wait for friends or relatives. There are on
some occasions up to twenty (20) drunks outside the Roadhouse,
Police state that they are non-violent and only commit the odd
street offence.
Police from Alice Springs have travelled to Ti Tree on two
occasions since the kangaroo tail incident. This has not been to
increase police numbers but to provide a police presence when
local Police have been absent from Ti Tree.
In Mr Reyburn's submission he has indicated that he has witnessed
a problem at Ti Tree unfortunately he has drawn the conclusion
that the Roadhouse is the source of the problem when in fact the
majority of problems occur outside the Roadhouse and are caused
by people over which the roadhouse has no control.
Yours sincerely,
Kelvin Rae
Chairman