The Mayor of Port Augusta has rejected claims that the South Australian town has a problem with alcohol-fuelled violence against paramedics.
About 20 paramedics attended the Port Augusta Magistrates Court on Tuesday where a man pleaded guilty to stabbing a paramedic in the leg last month.
They said they were fed up with being assaulted on the job and wanted tougher restrictions on the sale of takeaway alcohol in the regional town.
But Mayor Sam Johnson said there was no evidence the problem was worse than anywhere else and called the statement “interesting”.
“I actually believe that Port Augusta’s been the leader in South Australia in looking at the alcohol situation,” he said.
“I believe we’re actually the ones that have made the proactive steps to reduce (alcohol and drug abuse) over the past five to 10 years.”
Both the Ambulance Employees’ Association and the SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) backed the paramedics in calling for alcohol restrictions similar to those implemented in Coober Pedy last year, which banned takeaway cask wine sales and limited sales of wine and spirits to one person daily.
SAAS chief executive officer Robert Morton said it had resulted in a significant improvement in the type of workload paramedics were experiencing in Coober Pedy and a sharp drop in violence-related triple-O calls.
Mr Johnson said he was not across the effectiveness of the restrictions in Coober Pedy but said they were not needed in Port Augusta.
“Are you really solving the problem or just shifting the problem?” he said.
He said Port Augusta City Council would take action if evidence was provided, but apart from the stabbing lost month, neither organisation had raised the issue with the council.
“To make it seem as though Port Augusta is the problem child, that this is where all the events are occurring, well I’d love to see some of the stats behind it,” he said.