Page 4754 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 28 November 1990
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There is no doubt, Mr Speaker, that this is an important and much needed legislative initiative. There is equally no doubt that the Liquor Act has long been overdue for amendment to ensure that it more closely reflects community standards and expectations. I have to return to a theme that I have often echoed in this house about the state of legislation and regulation in the ACT in a whole range of areas and my disappointment and surprise at how anachronistic and how neglected that body of law, inherited by the ACT on self-government, was and to a large extent still is. We have a great way to go before we as a Territory can say that we have updated our laws even to a state commensurate with that of those applying in other States, and I believe that measures such as this will go some small way towards meeting that objective.
Mr Speaker, this Bill will address many of the concerns of the community about the Liquor Act and it reflects close consultation with, in particular, the liquor industry about the need for reform. There are a number of very important amendments in this Bill and I want to touch on some of those briefly.
The Bill moves to tighten the controls on under-age drinking by ensuring that people selling or supplying liquor take reasonable measures to determine the age of a customer when they suspect that that person is under the age of 18 years. Mr Stefaniak eloquently indicated the difficulty in this day and age of guesstimating, of guessing people's age, and it is important, I think, that we consider the onus in this matter and decide where, appropriately, we ought to place the responsibility for determining the age of people who might be drinking under age. It is an important initiative as the sale and supply of liquor to under-age people is a very great concern. I had some small dealings with this area when I was a legal practitioner - not as large as Mr Stefaniak's, but certainly some small involvement - and I can recall that there was - - -
Mr Moore: Not to mention your inexperience as a member of the Cabinet.
MR HUMPHRIES: I did not catch that and I am probably glad I did not, Mr Moore. Under-age drinking is a very real and very large problem and I can assure members of the house that it is almost a rite of passage.
One would be entitled to imagine that only a very small percentage of adults reach adulthood without having engaged in some illegal under-age drinking.
Mr Wood: We should not assume that that is the way it has to be.
MR HUMPHRIES: I will not comment on Mr Wood's interjection, but the question of the extent and the manner of that rite of passage needs to be addressed by us as
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