Page 4752 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 28 November 1990
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I commend the Attorney-General for at least his prompt attention to the points raised by the committee and his amendment to insert the word "undue", which will make quite a big difference.
Mr Speaker, I think this is effective legislation. There are a number of other areas of the Liquor Act which I believe need attention and no doubt they will be addressed by this Government. Mr Collaery is aware of some concerns I have. He has a number of further concerns himself. But this is a substantial amendment Bill. It is most welcome. It is timely and I think it will be beneficial to all persons concerned and affected by the legislation. I certainly join with other members in commending it to the Assembly.
MR WOOD (3.51): Mr Speaker, the explanatory memorandum that the Minister circulated when he introduced this Bill says that the former House of Assembly in 1985 established a select committee to report on the ACT liquor industry and now a substantial number of the committee's recommendations have been adopted. That is fine. In a debate in the Assembly earlier today he said that some of the recommendations of this Assembly's Social Policy Committee inquiry into public behaviour were also being adopted, and I thank him for that. At the same time, I would point out to him or to the Chief Minister that as yet there has been no formal Government response to that report, which came down quite some time ago. I do not have it here, but it came down quite some time ago, in February this year. It is time, I think, Mr Collaery, for a formal response to that. Nevertheless, I am pleased that some attention has been given to it.
That inquiry by the Social Policy Committee was not a detailed look at the licensing laws. It was more a general look at some of the factors behind problems of public behaviour in the ACT. Inevitably we got drawn into the question of the abuse of alcohol which lies behind so much of the behavioural problems in this Territory. We heard the police express their views about policing and about their role in containing problems that arise. I recognise that when GALA came into being a number of the regulatory decision making powers formerly held by the police were passed on to that body, and that is as it should be.
Nevertheless, the police had to retain certain policing powers. But in their submissions to us they expressed confusion about the extent of their powers. For example, they did not seem confident that they could deal with under-age drinking; nor were they certain that they had powers to the same extent that GALA officers had in dealing with licensees who serve people who are intoxicated. So, maybe the Minister, in his response a little later or at some stage during the debate, can respond to those comments by the police to the Social Policy Committee.
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