Better health and ageing for all Australians

Closing the Gap: Northern Territory

Review of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Components of the Northern Territory Emergency Response

This is the final report on the evaluation of the Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Response measures implemented by the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) as part of the overall Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) in 2007–08, and the continuation of key elements of this response in 2008–09.

In this section:

PDF printable version: Review of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Components of the Northern Territory Emergency Response. (PDF 910 KB)

An HTML version will be available shortly. If you are unable to access the attachment please email OATSIH.enquiries@health.gov.au. or call 02 62895291

On 21 June 2007 the Australian Government announced a national emergency measure to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory (NT) from abuse in response to the Little Children are Sacred1 Report. The emergency measures included immediate, broad ranging measures to protect children, stabilise communities, normalise services and infrastructure and provide longer term support to build better communities. Among these measures included alcohol restrictions as well as funding to:

      • Provide treatment and support to Aboriginal people suffering from the effects of alcohol withdrawal; and
      • Establish teams of drug and alcohol workers to provide outreach support to families and communities affected by the withdrawal of alcohol.
These activities were implemented in conjunction with key stakeholders in the NT and developed activities that aimed to ensure that appropriate AOD related health and substance use services were in place in the NT to support individuals and communities affected by the new Commonwealth alcohol legislation.

In August 2008, Origin Consulting and Bowchung Consulting were commissioned by the Department of Health and Ageing to undertake an independent evaluation of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Service Components of the Northern Territory Emergency Response.

The overall evaluation objective was to assess how well the Measure was implemented and the extent to which it achieved its goals. More specifically the evaluation:
      • assessed the extent to which appropriate AOD related health and substance use services were put in place in the NT to support individuals and communities affected by the new Commonwealth alcohol legislation; and
      • assessed the extent to which innovative opportunities were created to reduce harmful drinking levels among individuals and communities affected by the new Commonwealth alcohol legislation in the NT, through the introduction of Measures under the NTER AOD Response Measure.

1 Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from sexual abuse, 2007


The Final Report was completed in 2010.