On the outskirts of Alice Springs, senior women in the small community of Amoonguna are among those welcoming the return of blanket alcohol bans, six months after they suddenly lifted.
The Northern Territory government on Monday announced it would take emergency legislation to parliament next week to see dozens of remote communities and town camps returned to dry zones.
After 15 years, federal Intervention-era bans lapsed in July last year, without a staged transition or targeted support to help communities deal with the change.
In Amoonguna, sisters Sharon and Theresa Alice say the return of the bans will give some breathing space from grog-fuelled problems within the community of around 300 people.
"Alcohol shouldn't be allowed in here, into the community," said Theresa, a schoolteacher.
"Because this is a community where people live together, and with kids who want to go to school.
"We need to look after those young kids – we need to be peace and quiet, so those kids can get some rest, and go to school.
"I just want the place to be safe, because we been living with alcohol all our lives."
Her sister Sharon Alice said it will "be really good if we go back to where it was before".
"Before, it was really quiet when we had the alcohol ban for each community," she said.
"Especially in Amoonguna, it's really close to town, and we get a lot of visitors coming in.
"It'll be really good if alcohol gonna stop for six months."
Monday's announcement came in response to the report by regional controller Dorrelle Anderson, who recommended the reinstatement of the bans as a "circuit-breaker" to help curb a spike in violence in Alice Springs.
The town has been in the clutches of a crime crisis for months, which came to a head with a fly-in visit from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Ms Anderson's other key recommendation, for "needs-based funding" to properly address Aboriginal disadvantage in the NT, has not been addressed, with a one-off $250 million package promised instead.
Some residents express concerns about bans
Others in Amoonguna are less comfortable with the return of the bans.
Aged care worker David Fatt, an Amoonguna resident of 20 years, said he believed there should be exemptions including for those employed in the region.
"[Drinking] out here is alright, because we're 11km out of town, we're not in town running amok," Mr Fatt said.
"We're just coming out here, sitting down at home for a drink, there's no trouble, nothing.
"I reckon the people that are in work should be able to buy it – people that are working, workers out here – if they get paid, they should be able to buy a drink."
Theresa Alice said if people wanted to drink, they could still do so in pubs, and not bring it into the community.
"That's the sensible way," she said.
Among the areas that will soon have alcohol bans reimposed are 18 town camps in Alice Springs.
The Aboriginal organisation that provides services to the town camps, Tangentyere Council, has previously said town camp leaders were against the "punitive, race-based" bans returning.
Tangentyere chief executive, Walter Shaw, did not respond to requests on Tuesday for comment, but is understood to be canvassing the town camp leaders before issuing a response to the bans.
In announcing the bans would be returning, NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles on Monday acknowledged some people would be "disappointed".
"I met with community leaders [prior to the bans being reimposed] who said they wanted to be treated like all Territorians, that they work hard, that these are their homes and they want to be able to have takeaway alcohol," Ms Fyles said.
"This is a complex issue."
Under the new bans, individual communities will have to submit an alcohol management plan to the NT's Liquor Commission in order to exit the scheme.
This will need to include a vote of more than 60 per cent of residents in favour of the ban lifting.
In Ms Anderson's report, she said Amoonguna "does not have alcohol restrictions in place" but "should be subject to the same policy treatment as town camps".
"Otherwise [it would] risk it being subject to unintended consequences of displaced drinkers should alcohol supply measures be implemented for Alice Springs town camps," the report said.
Sharon Alice said she'd like to get to a point in the future where the community could transition to a plan where alcohol is allowed one week a month, and said "it'll be really good".
