Page 4391 - Week 10 - Thursday, 23 September 2010
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When deciding the suitability of premises, the commissioner needs to know about any past problems at the premises. The commissioner needs to be able to allow for consideration to be given to ensuring that the same problems which may have contributed to antisocial behaviour or alcohol-related violence at the premises are not revisited on the licensee. In deciding whether premises are suitable for a liquor licence or permit, the commissioner should consider any previous convictions or findings of guilt against any person for an offence against the Liquor Act involving the actual premises. “Any person” might include the licensee, the permit holder or a staff member who may have been convicted of an offence involving the actual premises. If there were such a circumstance, the commissioner rightly needs to know about it before he or she issues, renews or amends a liquor licence or permit.
Section 84 is amended to make it clear that a public area includes an outdoor area at the premises that is open to the public. To protect the privacy of crowd controllers from any retaliation when issuing a receipt for seized false identification documents, section 124 is amended to require them to only provide their unique indentifying number rather than their names.
Sections 125 and 126 have been amended to clarify that these offences only apply to permitted premises which have a public area with a determined occupancy loading, as not all permitted premises have an area with an occupancy loading.
When the Liquor Bill was debated, section 129 was inserted by the Legislative Assembly to protect the confidentiality of certain information in a risk assessment management plan. The government’s decision to remove the offence provision altogether by not requiring a licensee or commercial permit holder to make their RAMP available for public inspection at all resolves the issue of confidentiality and removes the need for section 129.
New section 136(2)(a), which was inadvertently omitted from the Liquor Bill, has been inserted to make it an offence when a licensee knows about and allows another person to conduct a prohibited promotional activity at the premises.
Clarification of the powers of entry in section 154 is necessary to remove any doubt about the extent of the power of police and inspectors to enter licensed premises at any time when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that liquor is being sold on the premises. The power has always been there, and new section 154(1)(ba) removes any doubt about its operation and provides clarity for authorised officers to know the extent of their powers of entry under the new Liquor Act. It also puts licensees on notice about the entry power.
Sections 183 and 184 are amended to include critical pieces of legislation which, if not complied with, would subject licensees and permit holders to the occupational disciplinary process under the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act.
To address a recommendation made by the Greens, section 223 is amended to provide guidance on what guidelines under the Liquor Act may cover. Examples of the subject matter guidelines may cover have been included. The addition of the list covering the
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