'Thirsty Thursday' and the culture of change

by Paul Cockram (an ex-Tennantite)

In 1995 the Northern Territory Liquor Commission changed the Thursday licences in Tennant Creek to stop take-aways, close the pubs' front bars and ban the sale of large wine casks. The ban on casks greater than two litres was permanent but the other restrictions applied only on the day of the week that became known as ‘Thirsty Thursday’.

For many years Tennant Creek’s Aboriginal ‘old people’ had wanted something done about drinkers humbugging shoppers on pay day for money that would otherwise be spent on food. Pay day for most workers and Commonwealth benefit recipients was Thursday and because a lot of money was spent on alcohol it was also the worst day of the week for violence and assaults.

After hearing arguments from both sides, that is, the sellers of alcohol versus the local people whose lives were being made hell, to its credit, the Northern Territory Government through the Liquor Commission introduced restricted trading on Thursdays.

The NT Police were vocal supporters of ‘Thirsty Thursday’ as was the hospital. The number of incidents attended by police on Thursdays dropped by half and the alcohol-related admissions at the hospital dropped by around 35 percent.

Even though the restrictions did not apply to the town’s five clubs where members could still get takeaways on Thursdays, nevertheless the liquor outlets bleated and whinged for years. The diehard whitefella drinkers banged on about discrimination and ‘what will the tourists think’ – and we all got caught out on occasions with guests coming over, having forgotten to stock up the day before.

But it was an important victory for the ‘Wumpurrarni’ (local Aboriginals) to have been able to successfully address a serious community health problem. For most of the town, the small sacrifice and inconvenience was well worth it.

The restrictions ended last year, the sign outside the town's largest bottleshop read, “The Drought Is Over!”. There were many reasons for the eventual demise of ‘Thirsty Thursday’ in Tennant Creek but the first blow was struck by the Federal Government.

Around 2002, Centrelink changed its payment system to pay on any day and so the usefulness of having a grog-free Thursday was seriously diminished. Julalikari Council, one of the architects of the restrictions, implored Amanda Vanstone, the Minister responsible at the time, to make a special case for Tennant Creek’s welfare recipients to keep being paid on Thursdays, but to no avail.

So, what does this have to do with the current crusade we’re reading about in the paper? Well, simply to illustrate that the vast majority of Aboriginal people are not drunks, they’re not hurting their children and given a chance they will work to improve their quality of life.

Tearing off again with ‘Howard the Lion Heart’ leading the outrage is not the way to achieve lasting social change. Once again, but this time at home, the 'troops' we send will be strangers in a strange land – and as in Iraq, handicapped by the ideology that we can save people by punishing them.