Page 4755 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 28 November 1990
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legislators. It is, I think, a positive and important move in this case to ensure the responsibility of licensees to assess whether customers attempting to obtain liquor are in fact over the age of 18 years. In line with this provision, much tighter criteria have to be used in determining who may obtain a liquor licence. The Bill requires that applicants for liquor licences be fit and proper persons, and that the proposed premises be fit and proper premises and comply with the crown lease. These amendments in the Bill produce a significant change from the current situation whereby there are no requirements for individuals applying for a liquor licence to prove their credentials to hold such a licence.
It is regrettable that liquor licences have had some association with criminal activities - if not in this Territory, then certainly elsewhere - and it is important that that kind of provision occur. I have to say that I am not generally happy to see such provisions in legislation. I do not generally like to see public servants deciding, on fairly nebulous grounds, whether a person is a fit and proper person to do a particular thing; but in this case I support that criterion because it clearly has to be available in the circumstances of the liquor industry.
It will now obviously be possible for the licensing authority to refuse to issue or transfer a licence where, for example, the applicant is under the age of 18, or has previously been convicted of serving liquor to people under the age of 18, or has failed to comply with a direction given by the licensing authority. The more stringent criteria to judge whether a person is suitable to obtain a liquor licence will, I think, help to protect the community as a whole.
There are currently very limited powers available for enforcement of the Liquor Act. In many cases the licensing authority's only available avenue of enforcement is cancellation of the liquor licence. I think Mr Connolly described that as a policy of either leave them alone or chop off their heads. The consequence of that limited room to move in the past, of course, has been that sometimes enforcement through cancellation has been considered too draconian and the responsible authorities have declined to take any action when, of course, some action has been required but not at that level.
To address these problems, this Bill provides new powers to issue directions, to order compliance with the Act. There will also be a power to issue a direction specifically to ensure that licensed premises do not become the source of disturbance or inconvenience to persons or businesses in the neighbourhood. This provision should assist in having licensees accept more responsibility for the use of their premises and its effect on the neighbourhood.
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