Northern Territory Intervention-era alcohol bans are set to expire after 15 years

Long-term alcohol restrictions in dozens of Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory are set to end in July, unless there's a last-minute extension to the laws by the federal government. Key points: The Stronger Futures laws, which include alcohol bans on multiple NT communities, are due to expire this year The bans were imposed during the NT Emergency Response, known as the Intervention, in 2007 The NT government says affected communities will soon have the freedom to decide if they want to allow some alcohol use The NT government says the lifting of the laws will mean 32 town camps, 12 remote communities and 215 homelands and outstations will soon be able to choose whether or not they want to have access to alcohol in their communities moving forward. NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner this week dubbed the restrictions as "racist" and said individual communities should be able to have freedom of choice on whether they wanted alcohol banned or not. Communities can self-impose bans If the federal laws fold by July as is currently scheduled, the NT government said communities and town camps under those restrictions would be able to "opt-in" to continue the bans for two more years. "The two-year period will enable community-led processes to be undertaken to consider alcohol aspirations going forward," an NT government spokesman said.