Page 2319 - Week 06 - Thursday, 10 May 2012
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Another thing that was widely supported was being given better notice about the new liquor fees and any licensing arrangements. The Greens have legislation on the table in this area that people were supportive of. We have two recommendations in this report about that. One is that the government support that bill. The next recommendation states that if that is not going to happen, the government should introduce its own legislation that has the same effect. It came about because in the last couple of years we have had companies, premises and places being given very short notice of what often can be quite significant increases in fees. That is not good for their business; it is not good for budgeting; it is certainly not good for planning and certainty.
Mr Hargreaves picked up on the responsible service of alcohol—that there should be some consistency between states. That is an important recommendation. We want to make sure that we have highly trained bartenders who know how to ensure that they are not serving alcohol to someone who is certainly under the weather and should not have any more served to them.
I also raise here that at the moment a lot of people are being trained in RSA, but there is a concern out there that we will not have the training completed on time. I just put that in as well: someone in the industry has raised concerns about whether or not we have enough training going on—and whether the scope is right. For people who are working in clubs, bars and nightclubs, employers are pretty clear that people working there should be trained in the responsible service of alcohol. But it is not necessarily recognised that people selling alcohol in supermarkets, for instance, or even off-licences, understand that they are also captured. There is some ongoing work that needs to be done in that area.
I thank everybody involved in coming in, putting in submissions and giving evidence to this inquiry. I commend this report to the Assembly.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (10.48): I would like to thank the committee for its report. Overall the report is a considered one, and one which I believe does seek to understand the complexities of the liquor licensing fee regime.
This is reflected in particular in recommendation 1, which highlights that whilst there is potentially an issue around preloading associated with people purchasing bulk alcohol from a supermarket or a liquor store and then consuming it prior to going to an entertainment precinct such as Civic, there is a difficult choice for the government. The committee recommends that the government consider whether there should be a reduction in the number of off-licences or other steps to mitigate the risks associated with these businesses.
Reducing the existing level of off-licences poses an interesting challenge for the government. I do not believe it is one that the government can really consider, given that many off-licences operate in the context of small local suburban supermarkets. I do not believe there can be any real justification for removing off-licence licences in
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