When Aaron Campbell makes his daily trip into Alice Springs for work, he's constantly reminded that alcohol restrictions apply differently to him than to his colleagues.
The Arrernte traditional owner lives in a little-known outstation called Itchy Koo Park, nestled in the foothills of the MacDonnell Ranges west of town.
Residents there aren't permitted to purchase alcohol from bottleshops and take it into their community – unless they've been granted a special permit.
"At the end of the week you want to sit down and have a beer and not be treated differently for that, just because we happen to be 20 minutes from town," Mr Campbell told Stateline NT.
"It does feel like we're being punished before we even commit a crime, and it's clearly not working."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jetted into Alice Springs one year ago, heralding the return of blanket alcohol bans in Aboriginal town camps and communities across the Northern Territory.
Amid soaring levels of crime and alcohol-fuelled violence, the bans were reinstated with a proviso; that communities could develop their own alcohol management plans and decide for themselves if they wanted to opt out of the restrictions.
But 12 months on, Itchy Koo Park is the first and only community to submit a plan, which is still waiting to be approved.
Jury still out on effectiveness of blanket bans
Around the time alcohol bans were reimposed on dozens of communities, bottle shop trading hours were slashed in Alice Springs and a $250 million funding package was announced by the Commonwealth to address Indigenous disadvantage across Central Australia.
The federal government says of this, more than $186 million has been allocated to range of projects and organisations, including for infrastructure and youth services.
Since the changes, new NT government data shows that on some indicators there have been signs of improvements in Alice Springs, while others have stayed the same or fallen even further.
In 2023, emergency department presentations in the town dropped to 5,021, down from 5,660 the previous year, when alcohol bans lapsed.
But they are still far higher than they were in 2019, which saw 4,421 presentations to the ED.
Meanwhile, the latest NT Police data shows alcohol-related assaults last year dropped 13 per cent from 2022, but house break-ins, sexual assaults and domestic violence have all risen.
With an office in the centre of town, mortgage broker Angelique Glasson has watched Alice Springs – and her work – change over the past 27 years.
Years ago, most of her clients were locals purchasing a house and putting down roots in town.
Today, almost all the mortgages she brokers are for people leaving and buying up elsewhere.
"They don't want their children growing up here … they don't want their children to think that the behaviour going on here is normal," she said.
For Ms Glasson, the violence, public drunkenness and anti-social behaviour she sees playing out on the streets is getting worse.
"I'm pretty desensitised now, so it has to be pretty bad for me to notice," she said.
Government yet to provide clarity on continuation of bans
In letting the bans lapse in 2022, the NT government described them as "race-based policy".
Since they were reinstated, it has not clarified whether the bans will continue indefinitely.
The government has repeatedly said it will assess the data and adjust policy as required.
Marion Scrymgour, the federal Labor member for the vast territory electorate of Lingiari, was among a long list of public figures and organisations that came out in support of the alcohol bans.
"At that time, we were seeing some horrific deaths, but also assaults against women," Ms Scrymgour said.
"Something needed to be done.
"I don't think it's okay to see in an intensive care unit, the majority of those beds were taken up by women who were on life support, and a lot of that came from alcohol-fuelled violence."
But the NT Liquor Commission said the bans had not stopped the flow of alcohol across the territory, with black market sales – or "grog running" – becoming a growing challenge.
"It's overwhelmingly clear from the evidence we've heard that grog running is a huge problem in some parts of the territory," the commission's chair Russell Goldflam said.
"There are things we can do to disrupt the grog runners' business model, which I think would be pretty important, significant and cheap and feasible."
NT Police and Aboriginal leaders have said a one-litre bottle of spirits sold over the counter for $75 can fetch in excess of $300 on the black market.
Government data also shows that while the wholesale volume of alcohol sold in Alice Springs has dropped since the restrictions lapsed in the second half of 2023, it is now at a similar level to that seen leading up to this period.
Black market sales hampering efforts
The Northern Territory Opposition believes the black market sales are not being properly addressed by the current government's alcohol policies.
"It means people aren't spending money on the things that really matter, like putting food on the table, paying their bills and investing in their futures," said Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro.
"When we have that chronic addiction, we see people doing everything they can and paying vast amounts of money to get their fix.
"We have to deal with the demand for alcohol – not just the supply, and that's something Labor has failed to do."
Ms Finocchiaro said the Country Liberals would re-introduce mandatory alcohol rehabilitation if elected to govern the territory in August and look to wind back some alcohol restrictions and transition towards measures that "drive down demand".
"We know that you can't have these restrictions forever and when they're not actually making a big impact on the volume of alcohol sold, it would be silly to keep them going," she said.
Alice Springs-based NT Attorney-General Chansey Paech said there have been "a number of positive changes" over the past 12 months, but "there's certainly more work to be done".
"If there are any changes, there could be unintended consequences, so we need to have a considered look at that – we need to look at it as a holistic way forward," he said.
As the policy makers ponder how to walk a fine line between personal freedoms and stemming the flow of alcohol-related harm, communities including Itchy Koo Park want to see a more focused approach.
Aaron Campbell believes there will not be any better outcomes until the government does more to address the social drivers behind the bleak crime statistics.
"I'm fairly certain they would have more success if they took all that effort and all that money and helped the people who have issues and left the rest of us to our own devices," he said.
"For the average person who just wants to go get a beer, it's a pain in the bum."
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