Page 1963 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 June 1994
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Mr Humphries: It will go some way towards it, though. It will be a big step in the right direction.
MRS GRASSBY: It will help the people who have an establishment where people go and drink. It will make it a lot easier for them, but will they really police it as hard as they should? Will they really look after the under-aged? It puts them in a position where they cover themselves. That is all it does. We all know that if young people want to drink they can get it so easily that it does not matter. Most of the drink is obtained off-licence. It is not obtained in hotels or pubs, as you wish to call them, or nightclubs; it is obtained off-licence. One young girl who works after school in a supermarket here in Canberra told me some time ago that she was working on the checkout when a person she knew was under 18 came through with a bottle of alcohol. When she said to him, "I cannot sell it to you", he said, "Do you want to get bashed up at school tomorrow? That is what will happen". She said that she let it go. These are the sorts of things that can happen. If you think this is going to fix under-age drinking you are being absolutely ridiculous. It will not fix under-age drinking.
The point is that it will become an identification card, and, if you want to have one, you can have one. It is not a pubcard. If I thought it was going to fix under-age drinking I would have supported it wholly three, four or 10 years ago. I know, after owning two hotels, that an identification does not really fix things. People can get in the door without you seeing them, and somebody else goes to the bar and buys the drinks. The best way to find that out is when they come to the bar. You know that they are under age, but there is a big crowd and you cannot find them. You say, "Show me your identification", after they have ordered the drinks, and they say, "I will get it". Somebody else comes up and orders exactly the same drinks, so you know that the person was definitely under age. You go around the hotel, trying to find them. They are very clever at hiding and can be very sneaky about it. If I really and honestly felt that this would fix it I would say, "Wonderful"; but it will not fix under-age drinking at all.
I think it will help the proprietors of all the businesses. It will make it easier for them. I suppose that, if it is going to make it easier for them, that is what governments are supposed to be here to do - to make it better for businesses. That is what the Liberal Party thinks anyway. I would like to think that it will do something like that and I will be very pleased if it does, because I think that is one of our biggest problems. That is the problem that has been proved to us. As it is coming in, it will be an identification card, and anybody, of any age, will be able to get one.
There are many people who do not carry identification. I met somebody the other day who said that they had never had a card from any bank in their life. They had never had a card from any business in their life. They do not drive a car and they do not have a passport. They find it very difficult to provide identification. This possibly will be very good for them. They will be able to get a card that will identify them. If they are ever asked for identification, they will have something to show. I would say to the Government that in this case it is obviously a very good idea.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Sitting suspended from 12.27 to 2.30 pm
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