Whyalla City Council looks to impose city-wide alcohol-free zone
Whyalla City Council has unanimously voted in favour of extending its existing dry zone to the whole city.
It comes after an extensive public consultation with residents, frontline services and other stakeholders.
It is an offence for someone to consume or have opened liquor containers in a dry area.
With 2,500 responses, Mayor Phill Stone said the response was the biggest the council had received.
"A lot of the comments were about safety, the feeling of people," he said.
"Council is listening to the people … yes, we've always known it's not a silver bullet.
"It's one of those issues where there are always going to be some people disappointed."
Though she was supportive of the proposal, Kuring Gai woman and councillor, Tamy Pond, said more needed to be done to address the issue.
She said a dry zone was one of the small elements that could be implemented to help police.
"I see it as just one step in a huge picture ... we also need to have more services for our community as well," she said.
Peter D'Abbs, from the University of Queensland School of Public Health, said governments too often focused on restricting the supply of alcohol or where alcohol was consumed.
"We also need to consider how to reduce demand for alcohol," Professor D'Abbs said.
"That consists of … making sure we have accessible treatment programs, accessible early intervention programs … and more preventative measures."
Professor D'Abbs said there needed to be a high degree of community leadership and buy-in to be effective.
"These kinds of measures are most effective when you have a community-based coalition," he said.
The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation was contacted for comment.
An application for a city-wide dry zone will be submitted to the Attorney General for consideration.
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