New alcohol restrictions will be placed on Carnarvon unless local licensees can convince the state's liquor regulator they are not necessary.
Director of Liquor Licensing Lanie Chopping wrote to the costal town's pubs, clubs and bottle shops on Wednesday evening with a show cause notice giving them until April 5 to provide input on restrictions.
The restrictions include banning takeaway alcohol sales on Sundays and Mondays, reducing daily trading times and limiting the amount of alcohol which can be purchased each day.
Ms Chopping is using Section 64 of the Liquor Control Act as the means to bring in the new restrictions.
Once any conditions are in place they would be reviewed after a year.
Ms Chopping wrote that she felt immediate action was needed because "in recent months, there has been growing community concern about the extent of alcohol-related harm and ill-health in Carnarvon".
"In early December 2022, Carnarvon crime rates were at a 10-year high, with the Western Australia Police Force reporting that much of this was alcohol-related crime.
"In my view, it is highly likely that the existing rate of alcohol-related harm and ill health in Carnarvon will continue unabated unless there is a strong and immediate intervention."
Alcohol consumption twice state average
Data from the Department of Health showed that alcohol-attributed deaths were 151 per cent higher than the state average in the town from 2010 to 2019.
St John Ambulance in Carnarvon told the liquor regulator they responded to about two callouts per day for trauma with the majority of cases being assaults or falls.
Police provided statistics highlighting how alcohol-related family assaults in Carnarvon were 3.5 times higher than the state average.
And other alcohol-related offences were 1.2 times higher than the rate in regional Western Australia.
Alcohol consumption in Carnarvon per adult is 2.4 times the state average and about 85 per cent of wholesale liquor is sold at takeaway stores.
Ms Chopping also noted in her letter that school attendance had fallen in the past five years.
"Which has anecdotally been attributed to the fact that students did not have the opportunity to get a good night of uninterrupted sleep," she wrote.
"Because they were wandering the streets or kept awake because of the activities of family drinking late into the night."
What are the restrictions?
Takeaway liquor can currently be sold in Carnarvon from 10am to 8pm every day of the week.
The Director of Liquor Licensing wants to reduce trading days to Tuesday to Saturday and between 12pm and 7pm.
Wine would need to be sold at a minimum price of $15 and no beer bottles or cans could be larger than 400 millilitres.
Daily buy limits would be set at a carton of beer, cider or mixed spirits with an alcohol percentage of less than 6 per cent.
Beer, cider or mixed-spirits greater than 6 per cent would be limited to 3.75 litres.
Or customers could buy a 1 litre of spirits, 1.5 litres of wine or 1 litre of fortified wine per day.
Minister scathing of some alcohol traders
Racing, Gaming and Liquor Minister Reece Whitby has been critical of some members of the Carnarvon Liquor Accord, saying they did not want even light restrictions.
"Carnarvon was and is in crisis and we need to act. And the liquor accord was given the opportunity to take the initiative and it failed," he said.
"So, the director of liquor licensing has stepped in."
Mr Whitby has said that the Carnarvon Liquor Accord had offered no solutions, but the group had provided a list of voluntary restrictions to police for feedback, similar to those in the Pilbara, on Tuesday.
Nationals MP Merome Beard, who is a publican, and her predecessor Vince Catania had regularly raised the social issues and crime facing Carnarvon over the past two years in state parliament.
The pair had often asked for the police minister or Mr McGowan to visit.
Ms Beard said it was not enough for the government to roll out a blanket ban and claim the job was done.
"The previous local member and I took every opportunity to put this matter on the government's radar," she said.
"And to ask for expanded support services and facilities on the ground, including senior departmental decision makers returned back to Carnarvon.
"Significant investment, support and rehabilitation services, and a crackdown on imported illicit drugs need to be part of the holistic strategy to address crime and anti-social behaviour."
