Page 4414 - Week 14 - Thursday, 1 December 1994
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Madam Speaker, this Bill contains amendments to the Liquor Act that will enable better enforcement of controls on under-age drinking, including the introduction of a proof of age card scheme, and will put in place more efficient and cost-effective measures for dealing with anti-social, alcohol related behaviour. The introduction of a proof of age card scheme is the most significant provision of the Bill. The scheme has been widely recommended in various forums, including the Community Safety Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Drugs, as a means to assist in reducing under-age drinking in our community; and, importantly, the scheme has the support of the industry and now, after extensive consultation, of the youth sector.
The features of the proposed scheme are: It is a voluntary scheme whereby persons aged 18 and over can obtain a proof of age card to positively prove their age for the purpose of gaining entry to licensed premises and to purchase liquor. The card will be issued by the Motor Vehicle Registry and will cost $5 for persons aged between 18 and 25, and $25 for persons aged 26 or over. Many of us in this Assembly, no doubt, appear so youthful that we may feel that we need a card. The defence available to persons selling or supplying liquor to under-age persons will be tightened, so that they will have a defence only if it is proven that they sighted, at the time the liquor was sold or supplied, a drivers licence, a proof of age card or a passport, containing a photograph that might reasonably be accepted as applying to the person and as proving that the person was of or above the age of 18 years. Similar documents issued in other jurisdictions would also be acceptable. So, this will be uniform.
To support the integrity of the scheme, it will be an offence to provide false identification to obtain entry to or remain in a restricted area of licensed premises or to purchase liquor; it will be an offence to attempt to obtain a proof of age card by misrepresentation; and powers of police and licensing inspectors to deal with under-age drinking offences will be extended to allow the confiscation of forms of identification, except passports, that are reasonably believed to be false. In addition, a liquor inspector will be required to display his or her identity card before asking any young person to give name, age and address.
Another amendment to the Liquor Act, addressing the issue of under-age drinking, is the provision in the Bill of a definition of a responsible adult for the purpose of obtaining entry to restricted areas of licensed premises. The definition is:
'responsible adult', in relation to a person under the age of 18 years ... means a person who is 18 years of age or more and who is -
(a) a parent, step-parent or guardian of the minor;
(b) the minor's spouse;
(c) a person of the same or opposite sex to the first-mentioned person who lives with that person as his or her spouse on a bona fide domestic basis; or
(d) a person who stands in loco parentis to the minor.
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