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Alcohol restrictions for travellers

A van driving into a community with alcohol restrictions.

Call 1300 789 000
for more information about the alcohol limits.

If you're planning on travelling through far north Queensland and Cape York, you need to know about alcohol restrictions.

Alcohol restrictions are in place in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Queensland. They aim to help improve the health and well-being of all people living in the remote communities.

These restrictions either ban or limit the amount and type of alcohol you can take into a community.

Which communities have alcohol limits?

Alcohol limits and bans are in place in:

There are different restrictions for each community. In some communities, alcohol is completely banned.

Fines and penalties

You are breaking the law if you try to go into a restricted area with an amount of alcohol that's above the set limit. If you do, you risk having to pay a fine or going to jail. The maximum penalties for breaching the alcohol limit are:

  • first offence - 500 penalty units ($37,500)
  • second offence - 700 penalty units ($52,500) and/or 6 months prison
  • third or later offence - 1000 penalty units ($75,000) and/or 18 months prison

'Bona fide' traveller exemption

A 'bona fide' traveller is someone who can prove they're passing through a community on their way to another destination (for example, driving along the Savannah Way to get to Doomadgee). You'll be allowed to drive on some roads (see below) and use some public facilities while carrying alcohol over the set limit if you can prove you're a 'bona fide' traveller.

But you must have got the alcohol at a place outside the restricted area.

As a 'bona fide' traveller, your vehicle may only stop:

  • to use a 'prescribed public facility' (currently only the Doomadgee Road-House and the Bloomfield Falls car park are 'prescribed public facilities')
  • if ordered by police
  • in an emergency

It's a good idea to carry some proof of your destination, such as a camping permit or accommodation booking receipt.

Rules that apply to all vehicles

Whether or not you're a bona fide traveller, you must make sure that alcohol is:

  • not removed from the vehicle
  • not visible from outside the vehicle
  • locked in the vehicle if unattended

Roads are part of the restricted area and you will only be able to carry alcohol on these roads if you can claim the bona fide traveller exemption.

Roads that are currently restricted areas are:

  • The Savannah Way (within Doomadgee shire)
  • Bloomfield Track, Douglas Street and Rossville-Bloomfield Road (within Wujal Wujal)
  • the road, within the community area of the Wujal Wujal Shire Council, directly connecting the road known as Douglas Street and the Bloomfield Falls (excluding the service road)
  • Portland Roads Road and Frenchmen's Road (within Lockhart River shire)

Police powers

Police can stop and search any vehicle coming into a Restricted Area. Police can take all alcohol where alcohol restrictions are being breached. They can also seize a vehicle (including a car, a boat or a plane) used to bring alcohol into a Restricted Area or dry place. Police can take a vehicle if they believe it is necessary to stop the vehicle being used again to break alcohol laws.

The new laws allow police to:

  • search a person without a warrant if they suspect they are carrying illicit alcohol
  • enter and search a house without a warrant if they suspect there is illicit alcohol in that house
  • stop and search a vehicle or an animal, and a vehicle pulled by an animal, under the control of a person attempting to enter a Restricted Area with illicit alcohol

More information

You can also call the alcohol limits information line on 1300 789 000.

Last reviewed: 21 January 2009