The People’s Alcohol Action Coalition (PAAC) is an Alice Springs-based community alcohol reform group. It developed in response to a growing awareness of excessive alcohol use and associated harm in the Central Australian region, and provides a platform for community action to reduce alcohol related harm. Its formation in late 1995 followed a public rally in response to alcohol problems instigated by the late Dr Charles Perkins, Aboriginal activist and Australian and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) Central Zone Commissioner
PAAC aims to work towards reducing the impact of alcohol-related harm through a number of strategies, including: developing constructive reforms to the sale of alcohol; advocating controls on public consumption; advocating responsible service of alcohol; and promoting healthy lifestyles. PAAC does not support prohibition
Members include social workers, lawyers, medical practitioners, Aboriginal organisations, churches, social service organisations and individuals. Collaborating organisations include the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Central Land Council, Aboriginal Medical Service Alliance Northern Territory, Northern Territory Council of Social Services, Central Australian Youth Link Up Service, the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council (Aboriginal Corporation) and the Public Health Association of Australia NT.
PAAC has advocated successfully for alcohol reform in the Northern Territory, including a Minimum Unit Price (floor price) on alcohol, reduced take-away trading hours, full-time Police Auxiliaries on bottle shops in Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek, and the reinstatement of alcohol restrictions in Alcohol Protected Areas by the NT Government in February 2023 after the Commonwealth’s Stronger Futures provisions were allowed to lapse in July 2022, leading to a spike in alcohol-related assaults and other harm.
