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AAP
AAP
National
Tim Dornin

Review backs NT booze pricing rules

A three-year review of alcohol laws in the Northern Territory has recommended retaining the minimum pricing regime to help cut anti-social behaviour and other booze-related harm.

The minimum unit price system sets a floor price based on the number of standard drinks in a particular product.

Currently set at $1.30, it means a 750 ml bottle of wine with 7.7 standard drinks cannot be sold for less than $10.01.

The same calculations are also made for beers, spirits and other alcoholic drinks.

The NT government says the review of the system found it has played a role in reducing alcohol-related harm, cutting the supply of low-cost products such as cask wine.

Though it concedes it's difficult to attribute any improvements in anti-social behaviour solely to the pricing strategy, with other reforms including a banned drinker register also having an impact.

The review pointed to a 25.8 per cent fall in alcohol-related assaults, a 37.6 per cent drop in alcohol-related hospital admissions in Alice Springs and a 24.2 per cent decrease in admissions in Tennant Creek.

It found no evidence of negative effects on industry, tourism or the NT economy.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the review made it clear the minimum price system had a place among broader alcohol reforms.

"While we acknowledge there is still more work to do across the Territory, this evaluation is a good indication that we are on the right track," she said.

But the NT opposition criticised the review as a "glossy government report" that didn't reflect what was actually happening in the Territory.

"Darwin and Palmerston are now littered with empty bottles of spirits instead of the cans and empty casks," opposition gaming and licensing spokeswoman Marie-Clare Boothby said.

"The Labor government can pull the wool over our eyes with these deceptive reports but it's not the reality of what Territorians are living and breathing every single day."

Ms Boothby said a CLP government would scrap the minimum price system and review the banned drinker register which she described as band-aid solutions.

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