Page 2380 - Week 06 - Thursday, 24 June 2010
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regulatory powers for the Commissioner for Fair Trading; third, a new liquor licensing framework; four, strengthening the integrity of the liquor licences; five, stronger protection for children and young people; six, new police powers and offences; seven, new liquor licensing fees; and, eight, a two-year review process.
A new focus in the bill is the objects and principles statement on harm minimisation and community safety, which changes the landscape for decision making under the legislation. It also provides clear guidance to the regulator, licensees and the community about the purpose and objectives of the new laws to reduce the overall level of harm caused by the use of alcohol. No longer will liquor licensing approvals be made in isolation from the impact a liquor licence can have on the broader wellbeing of the community.
The second area of change is the inclusion of new regulatory powers for the Commissioner for Fair Trading. The commissioner will have new powers to deal promptly with situations where licensees have done the wrong thing. In response to alcohol-related incidents on licensed premises, the commissioner will be able to issue written directions requiring the licensee to take swift action to resolve alcohol-related problems or local neighbourhood problems associated with the sale of liquor by a licensed venue.
The commissioner will now be able to impose conditions on a licence in circumstances where systemic alcohol-related issues are occurring at a licensed venue. The licensee, of course, has the opportunity to make submissions to the commissioner. The commissioner’s new power is a broad-reaching power which extends to any matter relating to licensed premises. The power could include, for example, a prohibition on the sale of certain drinks for a period of time or a reduction in the trading hours of licensed premises.
The bill also introduces a new power for the making of standard conditions which will be prescribed by regulation. Standard conditions will include a requirement to make drinking water freely accessible to patrons on licensed premises and providing wholesale and retail liquor data to the commissioner for national and local evaluation.
To protect the social amenity of areas when events are held nearby, the commissioner will have a new power to declare a public place as a temporary alcohol free zone, making it an offence for anyone to consume liquor in that area, in addition to the prescribed public places in the act and regulation. To better target regulatory action, licensees will be required to maintain an incident register and record any incident involving violence or antisocial behaviour occurring in the immediate vicinity of their licensed premises. This will allow the commissioner to use this information as a basis for undertaking regulatory action.
The bill also sets out grounds for the commissioner taking occupational disciplinary action in relation to a licensee or permit holder, which may have contrived a provision of the new act or been the subject of a substantiated complaint. The government believes that strengthening the administrative role of the commissioner is essential to tackling the drinking culture.
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