Alcohol ban duo fight for future

Women in Fitzroy Crossing fighting to create a safer future for their children by having alcohol restrictions imposed against bitter community opposition have painted a harrowing but hopeful picture of their fight to drive change.

Speaking at the inaugural West Kimberley Youth Sector Conference last week, Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre chairwoman Emily Carter broke down as she described life before a takeaway alcohol ban was imposed in 2007.

“When you see people dying in front of your eyes every day, children feeling so unsafe and old people running

from their homes because they feel so unsafe, it breaks your heart,” she said.

“When you see children starving … I for one felt guilty about the pay packet I was getting.

“This is Australia we are talking about – this is supposed to be the lucky country.”

Ms Carter said she and colleague June Oscar had tried to talk to people about reducing alcohol abuse but “knew we would be constantly hitting a brick wall”.

They had wrongly believed they could win support for restrictions from the Aboriginal-owned liquor outlet in town.

Ms Carter said the women were attacked “very, very badly” by people who would have continued to “wreak havoc”, encouraged by those making money from alcohol, as they lobbied for the ban and won support from regulatory authorities.

“June and I often felt sometimes we were alone … when you’re making unpopular decisions you don’t always have people with you,” she said. “But we had each other and we had our families.”

Ms Carter said she was driven to make sure no other child ever suffered. “We have to keep going … I didn’t want my grandchildren growing up and seeing the same old, same old,”she said.

Ms Oscar said the alcohol restrictions were only the first step in the women’s dream to bring about better lives for the children.

After a spate of suicides and more than 50 alcohol-related deaths in a single year, she was compelled to act, she said.

Ms Oscar said it was “painfully disturbing” and difficult to live in a community where people were dying in such high numbers from alcohol related illness.

Many people had believed the women unreasonable and restrictions unfair, but the pair held strong because of their unshakeable belief that the children were worth fighting for and commitment to creating a safe community.

Results from a three-year study into foetal alcohol spectrum disorders in the Fitzroy Valley, initiated by the women, will be published next year.