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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 196 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

Standing Committee on Legal Affairs for inquiry and report with particular reference to whether the Codes should be given legislative effect throughout the ACT;

(2) if the Assembly is not sitting when the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs has completed its inquiry, the Committee may send its Report to the Speaker or, in the absence of the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, who is authorised to give directions for its printing, circulation and publication; and

(3) the foregoing provisions of this resolution have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the Standing Orders.

Mr Speaker, I have made no secret of my opinions about the need for our liquor licensees to be responsible when serving alcohol. It was pleasing to know that the licensees in Civic agreed some time ago, in conjunction with the ACT Community Safety Committee, to operate under two voluntary codes of practice - one applying to clubs and on-licensees and the other to off-licensees. These codes of practice voluntarily take licensees beyond the letter of the law and, when complied with, promote the responsible use of alcohol, while helping members of the public to enjoy their nights out in Civic's nightclubs and bars in safety.

Mr Speaker, as we all know, alcohol consumption is one of the most serious, if not the most serious, drug problem that we have in our nation.

Mr Moore: After cigarettes.

MR OSBORNE: After cigarettes, possibly. The message that we legislators should be sending out, especially to our young people, is that there ought to be limits and a higher level of responsibility on all sides. While it has been good to see the vast majority of Civic licensees honouring their commitment to a code of practice, there are still a few, a very small few, who do not seem to want to play by the rules. The most recent irresponsible act was the 10c drinks promotion. I will not mention the name on the licence because I do not want to give them any more publicity.

I think it is high time that we as an Assembly looked at this issue of the code of practice. I envisage that we will have input from the police, the Liquor Licensing Board, the licensees and the AHA. I would imagine that they would be supportive of this, given that they all agreed to it voluntarily. I see this more as a way of bringing the mavericks into line, and not so much affecting the good and responsible operators. Mr Speaker, as I said, in light of the serious breaches recently, I think it is well worth the Legal Affairs Committee having a good look at this, receiving input from those bodies I mentioned and other members of the Assembly, and then reporting back with some recommendations in the near future.

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