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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 11 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 2903 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The Government will require all new licensees, and those receiving a licence on transfer, to have completed a recognised responsible serving of alcohol course. In addition to the course offered by the Canberra Institute of Technology, I am delighted that the ACT branch of the AHA is seeking to institute its own accredited responsible serving of alcohol course. CIT is also in the process of organising a short half-day seminar for licensees and bar managers which will highlight the various concerns of the police and liquor licensing authorities. It is hoped that this seminar will clarify those roles and expectations and build a more united solution to the Civic and Manuka problems.

This goes some way to ensuring that licensees accept the broad community responsibility that they have to their patrons. Operating licensed premises does not mean seeing how many alcoholic beverages one can sell in a night; it means understanding the community responsibility that comes with a position like this. I applaud those licensees who are already making an effort to have themselves and their staff trained in responsible serving of alcohol. This concept stems from a code of practice which was adopted by my predecessor, Mr Connolly - a concept which at the time I strongly supported and still do. The code of practice monitoring group established to monitor the implementation of the code has been very successful in heightening awareness among licensees of their responsibility and of the appropriate conduct of their premises, but I think they must now go a step further.

In recent weeks a Manuka safety committee has been established - it consists of business leaders, community group representatives, the clergy and local residents - to deal with the safety issues around Manuka. The code of practice monitoring group now needs to take on a wider role as a Civic safety committee. We are keen for local business, not limited to licensees, to work through the issues they face from a community safety perspective at a local level. They can do this by working with other businesses, residents and community groups to confront the problems and tackle them at a local level.

Another initiative I announced recently was the development of a Civic Business Watch, initially taking in businesses in Garema Place in a structure similar to Neighbourhood Watch. These groups provide an opportunity for businesses to identify trends and safety issues in their own areas and work with police to develop strategies to combat their problems. A Civic safety committee can do just that in terms of liquor problems in Civic.

The Government's commitment to broad community participation in safety strategies is strong. We have continued the process to implementing the recommendations of the Community Safety Committee's reports on Civic and Manuka, and we will be further expanding the role of that committee in coming weeks. I am also delighted to announce today the reappointment of Mr Ken Begg to a further term as chairman of the Community Safety Committee. In addition, Mr David Biles will remain as deputy chairman, and the membership of the committee will be broadened. I intend in coming weeks to issue the committee with a reference on the impact of crime, including the fear of crime, among the ageing - a key issue to be faced by many in the older areas of Canberra, but an issue facing the growing numbers of senior citizens in newer areas like Tuggeranong and Gungahlin also.

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