Page 187 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2008
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I turn to the current liquor licensing regime. I would like to highlight that the government is committed to ensuring that there is an improvement in the regulation of liquor licences. Our liquor licensing act is now aged; it is time for a refresh. Last year the government committed to the AHA and other parties to conduct that work this year. That work has been in train for some time.
It is worth reflecting on the number of on-licences per head of population in the ACT. The ratio of on-licences per head of population has remained fairly static over the past 10 years. There are currently 311 licensed premises, which equates to an average of about 1,087 people per premise. In 2000 there were 292 registered premises, which equated to an average of 1,079 people—only eight fewer per average than in this current year. That highlights on-licences. That is on-licences, where people can consume alcohol on the premises. Clubs and pubs are all on-licences. Over the past 10 or so years we have not seen any significant change in the number of on-licences. That highlights the fact that, I believe, some claims made by the industry that there is a need to control the number of licences do not really stack up when you look at the total number of licences around.
In 2007 the liquor board completed disciplinary mattes against 13 licensees in respect of 47 breaches of the act. The enforcement action and outcomes demonstrate that ORS, the liquor board and the police take these matters very seriously.
There are a number of issues that I would like to see further explored in our review of the Liquor Act. They include the provision of a responsible service of alcohol clause for all licensees, to require all licensees to train their staff in the responsible service of alcohol. This is not currently mandatory for all staff in all premises. Licensees themselves need to have that responsibility and training, but their staff do not. I am pleased to say that almost all of Canberra’s licensed clubs have taken this issue seriously and have trained their staff in the responsible service of alcohol. Regrettably, other licensees have not, so the mandatory implementation of this sort of training is one issue to consider.
Another issue is around clarifying why some establishments are open late. The law currently provides for licensed premises to operate up to 21 hours per day. In practice this means, for example, that premises could trade from 7.00 am to 4.00 am the following day or from 8.00 am to 5.00 am, but not for the full day. We need to clarify those provisions in the act.
I turn to the issues around improving safety in the city centre. Following the incident at the Alinga Street taxi rank on Saturday, 12 January, the government responded immediately by engaging a private security company to provide additional security services at the rank. This service commenced on 18 January and operates between midnight and 6.00 am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The security company is working in close cooperation with ACT police.
A longer-term response to taxi rank security is the Nightlink taxi service which was announced by the government in the second appropriation last year. We are working closely with the taxi industry to make this pilot program a reality. I think it has been announced that agreement has been reached. We provided significant funding in the second appropriation to support the service.
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