Violence around Top Springs Hotel prompts Licensing Commission to clamp down on grog sales (ABC)

View Comments ABC Top Springs Hotel manager Pauline Haseldine said she had already begun restricting some alcohol purchases.

An outback hotel has had some of the toughest restrictions on selling alcohol ever imposed in the Northern Territory, after being linked to violence in nearby Aboriginal communities and a death.

The NT Licensing Commission on Monday published its decision into the Top Springs Hotel, which is located about 600kms south of Darwin, after a hearing in Katherine earlier this year.

The hotel sells more than 95 per cent of its alcohol to people who live in Aboriginal communities at Yarralin, Daguragu, Kalkarindji and Lajamanu.

Under the new restrictions takeaway grog sold must be mid-strength or lower and in containers not larger than 400ml or with an alcohol content of 3.5 per cent.

Nobody will be able to buy more than 24 drinks per day, with the number of cartons of beer bought restricted to three per day, per vehicle.

The commission also said the hotel must record details of the person buying the alcohol, including their name, car registration number and a description of what they bought.

Anyone who is subject to an Alcohol Protection Order or a court order limiting alcohol intake will be prevented from buying takeaway grog under the commission's decision.

Several witnesses at the hearing into the hotel described the violence that has occurred in nearby communities as a result of the sale of large amounts of alcohol from the Top Springs Hotel, which is an isolated establishment a long way from any other pubs.

"I've seen some young ones passed away because of grog - too much in the community," said Andrew Johnson, a night patrol worker at Lajamanu.

"Twenty cartons, 15 cartons, too much and the whole community just getting - you know - just getting wild," Mr Johnson told the hearing.

Hotel linked to fights in communities, crash death

Sergeant Garrin Metcalfe from Lajamanu Police Station said in April there were about 300 people at a drinking spot outside of the community with only two police in attendance and five or six fights going on.

"All those questioned said they purchased their alcohol from Top Springs," the commission's report said.

Sergeant Metcalfe said more than 90 per cent of alcohol in his community came from Top Springs and the problems in Lajamanu were among the worst he had ever seen because of the sheer number of alcohol-related incidents.

In 2011 a motor vehicle accident near Lajamanu involving a large amount of alcohol bought from the Top Springs Hotel resulted in a death.

Justice Dean Mildren later called for restrictions on the number of cartons of alcohol people could buy from the establishment.

Hotel manager Pauline Haseldine told the recent hearing that she had already voluntarily implemented some restrictions of her own.

These included selling only 24 packs of beer rather than 30 packs and bottles of spirits not larger than 750ml.

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