Police ‘goon bag ban’ draws mixed response from Geraldton community

Geraldton Police’s decision to impose temporary restrictions on the sale of “goon bags” has been welcomed by local businesses — but not all are in favour of the measure. The five-day trial running from Thursday to midnight Tuesday was implemented in response to a spike in booze-fuelled violence. City of Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn said “the city doesn’t have a position on the ban, we were not consulted on the goon bag ban.” However, Mr Van Styn said he personally didn’t agree with the restrictions. “Look, it’s disappointing that 30 or 40 people from the Batavia Motor Inne can cause everyone in Geraldton to face liquor restrictions,” he said. He said the actions of a few should not impact the whole Geraldton community. “The liquor restrictions have been brought in place because people that party all day drinking goon at the Batavia occasionally walk down to the foreshore and the cinemas to use the toilets and other facilities and buy more goon,” he said. “It’s disappointing that the state believes that penalising everyone in Geraldton because they won’t address the homelessness and violence that’s occurring in the Batavia.” Liquor Baron’s bottle shop is located next to the Batavia Motor Inne, with attendant Travis Scolding saying they often sold out of their “goon” stock due to repeat customers. “I think it’s a good idea to be honest, because where we’re located, the building behind us, it’s a pretty derelict building and it’s currently housing a lot of homeless people that are quite abusive to each other,” he said. “I mean they don’t really give us any drama but amongst themselves and the surrounding neighbours they do.” Orana Cinemas has been particularly affected by the antisocial behaviour in the past, however, they declined to comment regarding the liquor restrictions. Murchison Region Aboriginal Corporation CEO Mary Marshall said she didn’t have experience with alcohol-related crime but hoped the restrictions would reduce aggressive behaviour within the community. “It has definitely been more noticeable particularly since January this year. We think it may have something to do with people stressed about COVID and then for us, it’s the lack of housing opportunities,” she said. Geraldton Police officer-in-charge acting Sen. Sgt Stuart Gerreyn said the police hadn’t seen a reduction in crime over the weekend and it was a “run-of-the-mill” couple of days including disturbances, domestic violence and stealing.