Australia re-bans alcohol in some Aboriginal communities
Prohibition is no substitute for fixing Aboriginal people’s terrible social problems
High temperatures are not all that Alice Springs, a town in Australia’s sun-scorched outback, has to defend itself against. A crime wave has forced residents to turn their properties into fortresses. Businesses are battened down with steel bars and cordoned with razor-wire. “It’s been anarchy”, says Robert Phillips, who owns a café that was broken into four times before he threw up defences. Last year Alice Springs saw its highest incidence of “property offences” on record.
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Dry season”
From the February 18th 2023 edition
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