Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2583 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The logical and good reason put to me by the AHA was that the registrar sits on the board both as a judge on particular applications or prosecutions, so to speak, and also as the prosecutor, or at least is associated with the prosecution. It was logical, I think, therefore, to remove the registrar one step from the board. He will still advise the board. He will still have the right to attend the board and give it his advice. But the board members themselves, the five board members constituted under this amendment, will make the decisions without the registrar being part of that decision. That, I think, is appropriate.

The other arm of the plan to reduce this level of antagonism has been to offer, in effect, consultation with the industry - both the AHA and the Licensed Clubs Association - on the make-up of the board, so that one person on the board could be said to have come from that area of the industry. I am not saying that I am offering either the AHA or the LCA a place on the board. That would be inappropriate. But I have indicated to them that I would like to make an appointment which provides the board with some perception of the problems that licensees - both club and non-club licensees - face in order that when issues like this come before the board there will be an attempt to understand the problem from both sides of the fence. That was a suggestion made by the AHA and I have taken it up.

I hope to announce, after appropriate consultation with the Assembly committee concerned, who will be constituting that new board, and I hope that that will deal with that problem that Mr Moore raised. If Mr Moore believes there is too much power in the hands of the board, let me say that this Bill in fact does increase that power in some small regard. It does provide for the board to require people, before obtaining a licence or having a licence transferred to them, to undertake, if necessary, approved training in respect of the obligations of a licensee. It also gives the board the power to impose monetary penalties for contravention of the Act. It provides that the board can impose a lower penalty than the one sought by the licensing section and it does, in some other ways, Mr Speaker, create an environment where some of the weaknesses in the present legislation can be addressed. I make no apologies for that. There are some in this town for whom those sorts of measures are required and are appropriate. As members have said - as I think Mr Osborne said - those are, fortunately, a minority of members of the industry, but for them it is necessary to have those sorts of powers.

I think we can achieve a better cooperative relationship with the industry. I have had numerous meetings with the industry to work through some of the issues which concern them, such as the proposed trial of liquor trading hours. As members know, I took up a suggestion made by Mr Osborne originally to have a 3.00 am closing or a 3.00 am cessation of the service of alcohol. The industry came back and said they would prefer to have a 5.00 am closure. I put it to them that that would make a bit of a nonsense of any trial, since there were only a couple of traders in the whole town anyway who traded after 5.00 am; but, as a gesture of goodwill, I suggested that we might compromise on 4.00 am. I thought we had agreement on that subject, but I found that the AHA, after the announcement was made, came out and criticised the suggestion that there should be any closure time at all, and particularly 4.00 am.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .