Page 5652 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 November 2010
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(c) a review of “annual liquor purchase value”, which has not been reviewed for at least ten years;
(d) means of:
(i) rewarding establishments with a good compliance history; and
(ii) limiting the regulatory burden on small businesses especially those which pose a low risk.
Rarely have I seen a set of laws handed down in this place which has drawn such comprehensive slating delivered with derision by the community which it is meant to rule and protect.
In debating the Liquor Bill 2010 earlier this year, I noted that the Canberra Liberals would oppose the bill on a number of grounds. One of those grounds was that the supposed reforms to the liquor laws in this city achieved little other than to create a whole lot more bureaucracy in the liquor licensing process, a few more offences and significantly increased fees, or that is what I predicted.
We have an act which, except for a few amendments the Canberra Liberals were able to get through, will fail to achieve its stated goals of harm minimisation and community safety. It will fail because, in essence, the only reforms we saw were to line the government’s pockets with money and to impose voluminous red tape on our businesses and not-for-profit community organisations.
Another reason we opposed the then bill was that it fails to place much onus on consumers to take responsibility for their own actions and behaviour. Still another reason we opposed it was that, typical of this ACT Labor government, the liquor law assumes a one-size-fits-all approach will solve all the problems. Quite the reverse; Labor’s one-size-fits-all approach will create more problems than it solves. And I make the prediction here today that, if this liquor fee schedule goes through in this form, we will see mass de facto lockouts in the suburbs and in the town centres, the closing of licensed establishments and greater concentration of drinkers in the CBD.
Already we have got some small licensees saying that they will opt for shorter opening hours because they cannot afford the late-night trading fees, which are the same as those paid by their much bigger competitors. This will impact on a range of issues, including jobs, business viability, entertainment options and transport availability, and overall there will be less diversity in the hospitality and liquor industry.
Mr Smyth, Mr Rattenbury, Ms Hunter and I were at a meeting recently attended by the Attorney-General at the Basement, one of the licensed establishments in our electorate. Those members present will remember that at that time the attorney had a question put to him about what would happen to patrons who go out onto the street at midnight because their operators will be forced to close their doors and he said, “They will drink less.”
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