KG: In the wake of the Federal Government's intervention measures to address alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory, community organisations have banded together to go one step further. A rally was held in Alice Springs today, with local residents and surrounding bush communities supporting the Turn Down The Tap campaign, calling for at least one alcohol-free day per week and to increase the costs of cheap wine. Angela Bates reports.

VO: Hundreds of people from bush communities in central Australia, from as far as Kintore near the WA border, gathered in Alice Springs today to attend a rally calling for the implementation of an alcohol-free day once a week.

COMMUNITY MEMBER: We ant to see changes. Alcohol has ruined alliance. It is poisoning our people. The 21 community-based organisations behind this push are also calling to increase the cost of cheap alcohol to make it less accessible to consumers.

COMMUNITY MEMBER 2: I am suffering inside.

VO: Greens Senator Rachel Siewert was also on hand to lend support.

SENATOR RACHEL SIEWERT, GREENS: According to a National Drug
Research Institute report, Aboriginal people in central Australia have the highest alcohol-related death rates in the nation. Early this year, as part of the Federal Government's Northern Territory Emergency Intervention plan, legislation was passed to prohibit alcohol in prescribed areas including town camps like this one, attempting to make life safer for kids who live here. But many local Aboriginal organisations and service providers say the intervention laws addressing alcohol don't go far enough.

DR JOHN BOFFA, CONGRESS ABORIGINAL MEDICAL SERVICE: Actually declaring areas prohibitive areas is not going to impact to any significant extent on the alcohol problem, because it does nothing to address supply, it just changes where people drink.

BARBARA SHAW, CAAAPU: A lot of people want to stop the grog-running in communities and antisocial behaviour, I guess.

VO: In Alice Springs, restrictions such as reducing the sale of cheap alcohol between 2pm and 6pm have proven to be effective. This measure was introduced over 12 months ago.

DR JOHN BOFFA: Now, when you look at the flow-on effects in terms of harm reduction, they're now quite evident. We've seen a very significant reduction in hospital admissions for assaults, particularly for Aboriginal women.

VO: Alcohol-related hospital admissions have also declined.

DR JOHN BOFFA: We've seen a very significant reduction in hospital admissions for alcohol-caused other events such as acute ethanol poisoning, pancreatitis and other conditions.

VO: Community organisations have been heartened by results like these, and now are taking it an extra step further to lobby all levels of government to heed their calls.

BARBARA SHAW: With the grog-free days – Tennant Creek's trialled it and it worked in a number of ways. I guess we could trial it here, there's nothing wrong with trialling anything first.

CHRIS BURNS, NT ALCOHOL POLICY MINISTER: So some people are saying, "Yes it did work," others are saying that, "It didn't." And what we're actually doing is commissioning an independent report along with evaluation of the measures that have already occurred in Alice Springs, so that will be something that'll be considered in that context.