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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2582 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

"Well, what happened off our premises is not our concern". I said, "A lot of what is happening is happening right outside your premises. People who have come out of your premises, very often intoxicated, have gotten into fights or engaged in other antisocial behaviour. You cannot pretend that this is not at least partly your responsibility". He said, "Once they are off my premises they are not my concern".

Mr Speaker, I have to say that that is precisely the attitude on the part of licensees which I believe the Assembly needs to change, and I hope that the strong support of the Assembly for this legislation today will send that signal. The industry must accept that dealing with problems flowing from the consumption of alcohol is a problem for the Government, for the police, for the Liquor Licensing Board and its inspectors, for the community as a whole, and very particularly for licensees themselves.

I have to note also that I have had a series of problems with the Australian Hotels Association representing hoteliers and on-licence establishments in the Territory. I have very few problems, in fact no problems at all, with the other side of the industry in the ACT, namely, the licensed clubs, who represent a very significant share of the market for the sale of alcohol. It has been very willing to comply with changes in the law and has worked very closely with the Government to achieve improvements in the outlook for the industry. The industry needs to ask itself how it is dealing with these issues and whether in fact it can lift its game. I hope that the members of the AHA executive who read the report of today's proceedings, who perhaps read the Hansard, will get the clear message that the Assembly means business when it says that the industry needs to clean up its act.

Mr Speaker, I will not detail the numerous consultations had with the Australian Hotels Association about this legislation, but there were contacts or other meetings with the association on 4 April, 22 May, 30 May, 5 June and 7 June, as well as more recent contact. The only change in the Bill before the house from the one that was sent to the AHA originally is the power for the board to impose a monetary penalty. Otherwise the industry has been closely involved in discussions. It has been frequently granted extensions of time to put responses to proposals the Government has developed, and I do not accept for one moment that the Government has not fully consulted with the industry, particularly the AHA.

Mr Speaker, I turn to the issue that Mr Moore has raised of the board having too much power. I accept that there has been a problem in the relationship between the Liquor Licensing Board and the liquor industry in the past in this Territory. There also have been some problems between those two components of the industry and the police, who are also an integral part of the process of enforcing liquor laws. I have been particularly concerned that there be a more active and cooperative partnership between the liquor licensing inspectors and the Federal Police to make sure that their roles are not antagonistic to each other, and I think we have achieved some of that in recent days. As between the enforcers of the law and those on whom the law is enforced, there have been some problems.

That point was made to me at one of my very first meetings with the AHA at the beginning of the time that we came to government. Indeed, the proposal before the house today to expand the board relates directly to an attempt to deal with that problem from two points of view. Firstly, it removes from the board the Registrar of Liquor Licences.

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