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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (28 November) . . Page.. 3255 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

the present time it would be possible to stop people consuming alcohol from any kind of container in places like Civic, particularly Garema Place, and Manuka.

The problem with that approach, which is one approach the government considered, is that we were aware that the police take the approach on occasions such as New Year's Eve to be very tolerant of people consuming alcohol in public places. It would result in considerable confrontation between police and party goers if the police were to say, "Sorry, every bit of alcohol you have in your hand is illegal. We are confiscating that, and you are going to be prosecuted." That would cause considerable problems, particularly given the fact that there are people within licensed premises, sometimes on the pavement adjacent to licensed premises, where the consumption of alcohol is legal.

We were left with the very difficult position that to enforce a ban against the consumption of beer in those centres or even against all alcohol in those settings would set up a most unfortunate environment for merrymakers on those important public occasions. It was the government's view that that was not an appropriate way of dealing with the problem. The alternative that was considered was to try to deal with the problem at source: that is, the purchase of those bottles for the purpose of consumption on New Year's Eve.

Why have we suggested the proposal that we should have a cut-off period from midday on New Year's Eve until 11 pm? The reason is that the assumption we are making-I think it is a reasonable assumption-is that those people who intend to rock down to Civic to count down the new year, maybe watch some of the activities and concerts in Civic and have a good time and to drink a great deal are likely to swing past their local bottle shop on the way to Civic or wherever it might be, pick up their two or three chilled slabs of beer, put them in the back of their car or their ute or whatever it might be and get down to the place where they want to consume it. It is those sorts of people, consuming for the most part beer in that form, who will be affected by this legislation.

Mr Kaine is quite right to suggest that there are ways around this legislation. Absolutely. I concede that at the outset. A person could purchase their alcohol before noon, and indeed it is possible some people will do that. A person who is a dedicated VB drinker could go to Queanbeyan to purchase their beer. We are not aiming the legislation at the careful, thoughtful person who plans their evening ahead and perhaps arrange to have some friends over for a barbecue in the back yard or has a few friends at home for various reasons. The sort of person I have described will get around the legislation.

We are aiming this legislation at people who will pick up beer at the last moment, already chilled, from the bottle shop, take it to a public place and drink it there. If this legislation passes today, those people will be faced with a choice. They can, as Mr Berry first suggested, retain their loyalty to a particular brand-VB or whatever it is-and switch to some of those products that are available in cans or in plastic bottles. Members might not be aware that there is now an increasing range of beer products available in those forms. I would be surprised if there were many dedicated beer drinkers who would not be able to find an acceptable beer in a plastic or aluminium container. Or they could do what Mr Berry later, somewhat inconsistently, suggested they might do and switch to some other kind of alcohol. I suggest that the damage done by smashing half a dozen or a dozen beer bottles on the pavement is somewhat greater than smashing a single bottle of sipping whisky, if that indeed is what people decide they are going to do.

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