More than 20 restaurants may be permitted to serve full-strength alcohol only with a full meal between 11.30am and 3pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The Liquor Commission also proposes to require the Todd Tavern, the NT Rock Bar, Bojangles and Uncles Tavern to establish an identification system, similar to the one used in bottle shops, but including scanning the person’s face.

This would allow to determine whether a person is prohibited from purchasing or consuming liquor by a Banned Drinkers Order (BDO) or by orders under the Alcohol Harm Reduction Act, the Bail Act, the Domestic and Family Violence Act and other restrictions.

These are proposals of variations to liquor licence conditions now up for public comment for 28 days, according to a notice released yesterday.

The proposed system would not involve the acquisition and use of the BDR scanners currently supplied to takeaway traders by government.

“It would instead require the affected licensees to use iPads loaded with commercial applications already in wide use in various parts of Australia (including Alice Springs),” according to the notice.

“At the entrance to premises, patrons are asked to show photographic ID, which is, along with their face, are scanned and checked against a list of currently banned persons that is stored on the system,” according to the notice.

“The scanning and screening process takes less than five seconds. The system automatically shares to licensees in its network the names of people who a participating licensee has decided to refuse entry because, for example, of intoxication.”

The licensee must maintain and share with the licensees of the nominated licences a register of persons who are subject to a banning.

The identification system would be used to screen persons who seek entry to the four licensed premises before 3pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

A similar measure was “vigorously opposed” by licensees and Hospitality NT when it was proposed in 2021: “Significantly” it did not attract support from the then Minister for Alcohol Policy, Natasha Fyles, who wrote to the Commission stating that “the Government’s position is that the BDR, particularly in its current form, was intended for takeaway liquor sales only and not for on-premises consumption”.

“To permit people to drink at a pub when they have been banned from drinking alcohol undermines the effectiveness of the BDR scheme,” according to the commission’s notice paper.

On July 29 this year Robyn Cahill, the NT Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence, told Parliament: “Not supported. Currently, venues may request BDR terminals voluntarily. Venues that are non-compliant or requiring disciplinary action, can be referred to the Liquor Commission. The Liquor Commission can / has imposed on-premises BDR and the Director of Liquor Licensing can also engage in voluntary legal undertakings with licensees to the same end.”

The proposed changes also require the licensee to take reasonable steps to prevent undue offence, annoyance, disturbance, noise or inconvenience to people who reside, work, study, worship or attend facilities that provide goods or services in the vicinity of the licensed premises [and], resulting from entertainment or activities on the licensed premises or the conduct of people making their way to or from the licensed premises; and to ensure public order and safety.

The licensee must refuse entry to the licensed premises to any person without an apparently authentic form of identification, fails or refuses to undergo screening by the licensee or is intoxicated, violent, quarrelsome, disorderly or incapable of controlling their behaviour.

The commission says this measure is likely to deter and prevent some banned drinkers who are currently unable to purchase takeaway liquor from circumventing the BDR by drinking on premises.

“That, in the view of the Commission, would be in the public interest.”

The notice paper says the current proposals date back to February this year when Owen Cole, manager of the Yeperenye Centre, drew attention to “raising concerns with the conduct of the licensed premises operating in the CBD of Alice Springs … both the manner that the CBD bars are being operated and the negative, anti-social issues arising from their mode of operations.

“A specific concern identified by Mr Cole was that ‘principally Aboriginal patrons with dependency issues’ drink heavily at venues in the CBD prior to 3pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and then congregate near the BWS takeaway outlet in an intoxicated state at around the time it opens, causing offence, annoyance, disturbance, inconvenience and fear to shoppers, shopkeepers and their staff in the Yeperenye Centre, as well as in the nearby Alice Plaza shopping centre.

The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress wrote to the Commission about concerns “regarding the safety, and wellbeing of young people, families and staff accessing Headspace, a youth mental health service with offices around the corner from the NT Rock Bar and Bojangles … describing regular disturbances involving individuals who appear intoxicated, shouting, engaging in aggressive behaviour, and at times, physical violence directly outside these venues”.

Licensing inspectors report that they witness at least one or more disturbances in this area every week.

Patrons who have been excluded or removed from these two premises are often seen to loiter nearby, and to sometimes cause disturbance and act aggressively towards employees and crowd controllers, as well as passing pedestrians and drivers, the notice paper states.

“On numerous occasions inspectors have seen weapons used in altercations on or near the Council lawns, and have frequently had to call police and ambulance services.”

The commission reports its own observations leading up to opening times: “A large number of predominantly Aboriginal people congregate both around the taxi rank in Bath Street at the western entrance to the Yeperenye Centre, and inside the Yeperenye Centre. It is not uncommon for there to be 100 people around the taxi rank, and a further 100 people inside the Yeperenye Centre itself.”

The incident report for January to July by Talice Security shows that between Saturday and Tuesday each week “there was an average of two or three reported daily incidents or disturbances at the Yeperenye Centre. By contrast on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays there were usually more than 10 such events, and on several occasions there were more than 20.

“On Monday 10 November 2025, a day when all Alice Springs takeaway outlets were closed, a young person was captured on CCTV footage producing, brandishing and using a machete to injure a person at around midday in the concourse of the Yeperenye Centre.

“The use of edged weapons in shopping centres across Australia, in some cases resulting in the taking of life, has in recent times become a distressing problem of national significance,” says the paper.

“Talice has recorded multiple incidents at the Yeperenye Centre involving weapons including knives, hammers, sticks, scissors and rocks. Chairs and rocks have been thrown, and glass panels and doors have been smashed.”

Despite “a common refrain” from many of the stakeholders, and in particular, licensees, the commission “is not persuaded that the nature and extent of sly grogging in Alice Springs is such as to render the variation of licence conditions futile.

“There is widespread secondary supply in Alice Springs, but in the commission’s view this is predominantly the illegal sale or supply of alcohol by persons who have previously purchased it from an Alice Springs takeaway liquor outlet.

“By comparison, the distance, cost, risk and inconvenience of bringing sly grog to Alice Springs from Darwin, Mt Isa, Port Augusta or Kalgoorlie reduce the viability of this particular business model.”

These are the businesses which are proposed to be required to save full strength alcohol only with a full meal between 11.30am and 3pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays: Flavours of India, Lasseters Hotel Casino, Alice Springs Golf Club, Grill Me Crazy, Club Eastside, The Epilogue Lounge, The Tropic of Capricorn Restaurant, Gillen Club, Bella Alice, Double Tree by Hilton Alice Springs, Uncles Tavern, Diplomat Hotel, Gap View Hotel, Mercure Alice Springs Resort, Todd Tavern, The NT Rock Bar, The Locals, Bojangles Saloon and Dining Room, Sporties Café & Restaurant and Simply Korean.

This article appeared on Alice Springs News on 22 November 2025.