| "One of the first things you'd need is the power to tip-out alcohol. "Also powers under dry areas legislation to fine people drinking in dry areas.'' Mr Lambert said the numbers of Aboriginal people camping out and drinking in parks had increased as a consequence of the federal intervention, which has banned drinking in remote communities. The Rapid Creek-Nightcliff foreshore is being used as a camp by a group of more than 20 people who sleep under the trees and leave rubbish behind. A Rapid Creek resident wants them moved on -- and she wants trees cut down on the foreshore so longgrassers will stop having sex under them. Darwin City Council has cleaned the area after several complaints from resident Wendy Remkes, who said the beach had been littered with rubbish. "They've been defecating, fornicating, every kind of cating, on the beach,'' she said. Ms Remkes said the council should cut down the trees. "Why can't they cut the bloody things down?'' she said. "Nobody's going to miss the things because no one uses them.'' _____________________________________________________________________ Larrakia Nation criticises Darwin drinking plan Posted Fri Jan 25, 2008 The Larrakia Nation says a Darwin City Council plan to crack down on public drinking ignores the problem's root causes. But the Northern Territory Government says it will consider the proposal. Under the proposal, council would employ eight officers with increased powers to deal with public drinking, funded by the Territory Government. The Larrakia Nation's Ilana Eldridge says the plan is founded on the wrong premise. "You don't fix these issues by dealing with the symptoms," she said. "Until there are enough services available in Darwin for the people and enough accommodation you're going to have people living rough in the streets." The Larrakia Nation says its own intervention and transport service is based on humanitarian principles. Its research shows there was a 40 percent increase in homeless Aborigines in Darwin last July and August, which it attributes to the Federal Government's intervention into Indigenous communities. But the Country Liberal Party's Terry Mills endorses the plan. "There is no such thing as a magic bullet but we must fight on every quarter to ensure that there is law and order," he said. "Naysayers will propose that this is not going to solve the problem, it's going to displace it, and therefore the result being that nothing is done. I'm not going to go down that path" Council will vote on the plan on Tuesday - http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/25/2146236.htm | 
