An Aboriginal corporation in Central Australia (also named Alice Spring) on Saturday urged the Northern Territory state government to ban pregnant women from buying alcohol.

The Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the Arrernte native title holders in Alice Springs, owns three alcohol shops in Alice Spring, and has expressed concerned about the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome in babies.

According to the corporation's Darryl Pearce, Alice Spring is facing many problems associated with alcohol abuse, and the corporation wants the state governments to consider allowing its stores to ban pregnant women from buying alcohol, despite anti- discrimination laws.

"Unfortunately there are people who stop thinking about the child they're carrying and concentrate on their own personal social lives," he told ABC News on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the state government is willing to consider local solutions to tackling alcohol issues in Alice Springs.

Earlier in March, the federal government released figures showing that alcohol-related crime and illness costs the Northern Territory 4,333 U.S. dollars per adult, compared to 973.5 U.S. dollars per adult nationally.

The report showed almost 70 percent of domestic violence assaults in the Northern Territory are alcohol related, and alcohol-related deaths in the Norther Territory are three times higher than the national average. Between 2000 and 2005, 48 percent of road deaths in the Northern Territory involved alcohol.

In a move to fight the massive alcohol problem afflicting the region, Northern Territory Minister for Alcohol Policy Delia Lawrie has introduced what she said are the country's toughest ever alcohol reforms, including a register of banned drinkers, tougher penalties for licensed premises and the illegal trade of alcohol, an alcohol tribunal and mandatory rehabilitation for problem drinkers.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet