Page 4090 - Week 13 - Thursday, 10 November 1994
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Madam Speaker, the other matter I want to comment on is the hoary old issue of a pubcard. It was recommended quite strongly by the committee that there be a proof of age card, that it be at an affordable price, that it be voluntary, et cetera. This recommendation has been picked up by the Government, but once again a matter must be raised. We have been promised the pubcard for more than three years. I can recall locking horns with Mr Connolly on the radio well before the 1992 election about the need for a pubcard. He told the people of the Territory that, yes, one was imminent. Three years later it has not arrived. I note that 20-odd Bills were introduced today. None of them was the Bill which would be necessary to facilitate the so-called legal protections which the Minister feels are appropriate to accompany the introduction of a pubcard. I can assume only that either we will be receiving this Bill in the last sitting fortnight of the year, at which point, of course, it will be very difficult to debate that law the following week and make it part of the Territory's laws, or we are not going to see it at all and we are going to yet another election where this promise remains unfulfilled. In general terms, it is important that we acknowledge the importance of these provisions. They must be pursued, not merely given lip-service to by this Government.
The other matter I want to make particular comment about is the code which has been put forward by the Government, which has been subscribed to, I understand, by most, if not all, Civic licensees and which is designed to reduce violence and to promote responsible drinking amongst patrons. That is a very important development; it has the full support of the Opposition; and we warmly welcome an approach which adopts a voluntary code. We are prepared to consider other measures where that code does not have the effect of achieving the ends which it is designed to achieve. It is a very good first step, and I trust that this code will prove to be, at least for the majority of licensees in Civic, an important development in making responsible drinking and serving policies a reality. Madam Speaker, I welcome this report but believe that we need to pay a little more attention to the activity of making it happen rather than merely paying lip-service to these principles.
MS SZUTY (4.45): I, too, wish to speak very briefly to the Civic by Night status report. At the outset, I believe that it is important to commend the work done by the ACT Community Safety Committee in compiling the report; in particular, I believe that the prominent role played by the chair of the committee, Ken Begg, should be applauded and recognised by this Assembly. The Civic by Night report comprehensively addresses its terms of reference, which were, in part, to review and report on problems concerning the community, including alcohol related crime and anti-social behaviour in the Civic area.
In its report, the committee makes eight recommendations, three of which relate to short-term strategies to address specific problems, and five of which relate to medium- to long-term strategies to address the underlying causes. In considering the Government's response, it is pleasing to see that the Government supports all of the recommendations of the report. Madam Speaker, in addition to the recommendations in the report, the ACT Community Safety Committee in late 1993, as a result of a preliminary safety audit, was able to make five simple but achievable recommendations to the Government which were intended to go some way to countering the perception that Civic is unsafe and to reducing the potential for crime caused by poor environmental design.
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