West Australia's premier has rejected a police proposal for blanket alcohol restrictions across the state's northwest, saying it would send tourists elsewhere.
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Police Commissioner Chris Dawson has called upon authorities to ban the sale of anything but light beer in bottleshops across the Kimberley region, saying the region's "astronomical" consumption of alcohol must be curbed.
The vast region is a magnet for tourists but has significant social issues, including one of the nation's highest suicide rates.
Mr Dawson has confirmed he made the request in a submission to the state's liquor licensing director last year.
He says he has the support of senior Aboriginal leaders and believes the ban would help curb problem drinking.
But Premier Mark McGowan remains opposed to the idea which he says would be too far-reaching.
"The problem with a blanket alcohol restriction is it impacts those people who do the right thing ... and to a degree, it removes self-determination from people as to what decisions individual communities want to make," Mr McGowan told reporters on Thursday.
"Some communities have made the decision to go dry and I support them in that.
"But if you just have a blanket approach, you are going to hurt the tourism industry and we will hurt jobs across the northwest."
Full-strength alcohol would still be available at pubs and restaurants under the proposal.
Mr McGowan has previously suggested he would prefer a banned-drinkers register as a means of tackling alcohol abuse.
The police commissioner said a ban on the sale of full-strength takeaway alcohol in the small Kimberley town of Fitzroy Crossing, driven by local Aboriginal leaders, had led to fewer hospital presentations and road deaths.
"There's a number of very, very senior Aboriginal leaders who are loudly saying 'we need to interrupt this'," Mr Dawson told Nine Radio.
"How do we provide the best possible care to vulnerable people when there is so much consumption of alcohol?
"The volumes that are being sold are astronomical."
State Coroner Ros Fogliani last year delivered her findings from an inquest into a spate of youth suicides in the Kimberley region.
Of the 13 indigenous people who took their own lives over a three-and-a-half year period, five were aged between 10 and 13.
Ms Fogliani found almost all of the youths had upbringings marred by exposure to significant alcohol abuse and domestic violence.
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Australian Associated Press
