It may be necessary, but it just sounds so downright UnOrstrahyun :
A violent NSW country town that is drowning in broken glass will have the state's most draconian liquor laws when takeaway sales of bottled beer are banned.
In Bourke, police say most of the alcohol-related violence occurs in the homes of locals, not in the pubs or in the street. It's almost impossible for the cops to stop people guzzling litres of cheap piss in the privacy of their own homes, but it's easy to imagine a day coming when the card you have to show to legally buy booze also reveals the number and ages of the children you have in your care.Liquor and Gaming director Albert Gardner said it was the first time a town-wide ban on retail beer sales had been imposed in NSW.
Alcohol related crime and violence costs taxpayers billions a year, and that's before the health costs associated with hardcore alcohol abuse are factored in. Millions of Australians getting hammered and harming themselves, or members of their families, or total strangers, is an incredible drain on public resources, and state and federal governments are already showing their tolerance of these rising costs is fading fast.
How long before widespread limits on alcohol sales become a part of everyday life for all Australians?
"Just these, thanks."
"Sir? Why are you buying four cases of beer and ten litres of cask wine?"
"What? It's grand final weekend."
"I know that, sir, but it says here you have two children under the age of five years old. I'm only allowed to sell you six cans of beer, and two bottles of wine. By law."
"Are you fucking shitting me? What in all fuck..."
"Now you're being abusive, sir. Therefore, I can only sell you low alcohol beer and wine. By law."
"That's fu...that's wrong."
"I'm sorry, sir, but that's just the way it is."
"All right. I'll just have four doses of Happyland Ecstasy instead, thanks."
"Grinners or Laughers?"
"Better make it Grinners. My mates might get violent if I laugh my head off when their shitty team is losing."
