Question:
Discuss about the Community Involvement in Liquor Licensing.
The problem of alcohol-related violence has been at the forefront of agenda in NSW for several years. To align and advocate the law of the NSW government, the local councils create and implement the policies in relation to minimize negative effect of alcohol and alcohol-related issues through the regulation, supervision, and enforcement of distribution of Liquor and Game Machine (LGN, 2013). Therefore, councils and polices are involved with the action to provide consistency among areas of health, social impact, as well as enforcement. While Liquor Act 2007 restricts and regulates the supplies, consumption as well as the sales of alcohol (Department of Industry, 2017), Gaming Machines Act 2001 controls and manages gambling (NSW Legislation, 2017). Both acts were legislated to minimize harm associated with anti-social behavior, and with a goal to ensure all the gaming and liquor related legislation are dealt and decided with efficiency (Department of Industry, 2017). Moreover, they encourage responsible liquor and gaming practices to promote amenity of community life (Department of Industry, 2017). In order to achieve its objectives, some of the key elements are addressed, such as licensing requirement, education, liquor accords, treatment of minors, and penalty. While some of the elements are successfully implemented, others are not effective and needed to be modified. To define the effectiveness of these elements, analysis and outcome of these five elements will be addressed.
In order to implement the key elements the first being of licensing for Liquor Act 2007, there are six types of liquor licenses which exist in NSW. Most of the licenses have the requirement of being accompanied by a Community Impact Statement (Trifonoff, Andrew, Steenson, Nicholas & Roche, 2010).
The first being Club License this license is granted only to clubs which have been registered under the Registered Clubs Act 1976. It is allowed to the club under this license to sell for consumption alcohol on and off the premises of the club to their guests and members. Under the Liquor Act 2007 since it was a club that held the club license it as referred to as a corporate license. There had to be a separate license for each of the club’s premises if they occupied more than one set of premises under the Liquor Act 2007. A community impact statement is required for a club license.
Another type of license is the Hotel (Including General Bar License) which allows alcohol to be served to general public. However under the Act there are various regulatory controls that are applicable on the hotel license, the first being that it has to be the public to which it is open to and not a private club, the second being that whenever alcohol is served free drinking water has to be given; third being the requirement being of a sign that indicated premise name, liquor license type and licensee name. The fourth being the requirement of an incidents register if the trade of premise continued past midnight and the fifth being that conditions could either be imposed under the LA 2007 or the CLGCA or Director-General, Communities NSW. A limited type of hotel license was the General Bar License, which allowed on premise sale but no take aways. This license also requires a community impact statement.
Limited License this allowed sale of alcohol for consumption only in the premises in functions held by not for profit organizations as well as trade fairs and special events. There is no community impact statement required under this license. Another type of license is On-premise License this license can be tailored for business activities of one or more types which include entertainment venue, restaurant, function center, motel and such other such settings where there is consumption of alcohol on the premises. Though this license also requires a community impact statement but only when it’s a venue for public entertainment. Packaged Liquor License is another type of license applicable on internet operators who are selling alcohol and liquor stores. This also requires a community impact statement. The final type of license if Producer/Wholesaler License this type of license is for distiller, winemaker, brewer and wholesaler. There is no requirement for community impact statement for this.
The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority with the help of the community impact statement is made aware of the impact that is had by granting of application in a local community.
There was study that was commissioned by OLGR in the early 2012 by the Allen Consulting Group (Allen Consulting Group, 2012) into the number of licensed premises cumulative impact particularly with respect to the density of license. As there has been a considerable increase in the licensed premises. In application of license it is important for the authority to be considering the social where the density of license plays a prominent role. Though there have been several studies which have been conducted indicating that higher density of license indicate higher social harm (Stockwell et al., 2005). There are others who do not find any association between two. Allen Group findings were mixed, not entirely successful or unsuccessful when it came to this, the density of license increase was not the only cause of the negative social impacts. Though there was a relationship between violence related to alcohol and density there were various other factors that contributed to it as well (Oxland & Roulston, 2012). The increase in Liquor License can be observed in a better manner from the image below, it can be observed that there was not a very drastic and thus cannot be stated to be a complete sucess.
The liquor law liberalization has made it easier for attaining in NSW the liquor license, thereby enabling that the licensee are able to promote, supply and sell liquor in NSW in a more free manner (“Breaking down barriers Community involvement in liquor licensing decisions in NSW”, 2013). As already discussed above there has been a staggering increase in the number of liquor license application and approval in NSW.
The Liquor Act 2007 requires responsible service of Alcohol under section 99(2)(c). Meaning thereby education is important for the managers, licensees and other person which include crowd controllers, bar staff and volunteers and they are required to complete RSA training course and hold an RSA certificate (“NSW GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE “STATUTORY REVIEW OF THE LIQUOR ACT 2007 AND THE GAMING AND LIQUOR ADMINISTRATION ACT 2007””, 2014). The premises are required to keep a register of all the RSA certified employees. This is to be made available to the OLGR inspector or the police officer as and when requested. The Liquor Act 2007 further strengthened the harm minimization aspect of RSA training. It has been made mandatory in NSW to have an RSA training and licensees who employe staff. The penalization for not having employees who are RSA certified is one of the highest which ensures compliance. It has become mandatory in NSW to have RSA training for those who are involved in the supply and sale of liquor in public, thus making its implementation more successful (Pratten, 2007).
In 2010 the Liquor Act 2007 was amended to include Precinct Liquor Accords and Community Event Liquor Accords. It forms a part of the NSW Government’s initiative of hassle free nights as a plan for reducing comprehensively anti-social drunken behavior and alcohol related crime in five primary districts of entertainment in NSW, Manly Sydney Central Business District, Newcastle-Hamilton and Wollongong. The reason for identifying these precincts was because there were significant issues with liquor licensing. By way of accords a wide range of stakeholders are brought together in an attempt to reduce violence related to alcohol and encouraging a safer environment. The impact of this is however successful. There is sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy of accords in reducing the consumption of alcohol (Trifonoff & Nicholas 2008).
A general prohibition exists on the supply of liquor to minors below the age of 18 years under the Liquor Act 2007 in a licensed venue. It also in most instances cover private settings as well. For instance there is no specific regulation on parental or adult guidance for minors who are served alcohol in private premises (Weitzman, Folkman, Kerry Lemieux Folkman & Wechsler, 2003). As observed below there has been a general reduction in the number of children who have consumed alcohol from 1987 to 2014, indicating that this implementation has been more successful. The Act has become an important driver of change, the government under the Act regulated the supply and sale of liquor.
Part 9A sets up a system whereby repeat offenders are put on a path towards disciplinary action. That disciplinary action may include having restrictive special conditions placed upon the licence, disqualification of the licensee, suspension of the licence or even cancellation of the licence. However escalating penalties are required, it is essential to apply penalties for acts such as those involving minors to include cancellation and suspension of liquor license to offence with under Liquor Act 2007 section 117(1).
The Gaming and Machines Act 2001 introduced the licensing system for industry participants of the gaming machine industry. This ensured that the persons who were involved in the testing, manufacturing, servicing and supply of gaming machines comply and/or meet with the specified conduct and integrity standards. Sanctions were provided under it for participants who do not meet such standards. This ensures that there is a public record of the venue and persons who have been authorized. In NSW the gaming machine industry is accustomed to licensing (Breen, Hing, Gordon & Buultjens, 2012). This allows more effective action which can be taken in case of performance that are inappropriate or if the standards are not met.The approval and application process is streamlined by the integration of the previous two legislations into one Act. It is essential to have a licensing system for ensuring that the legislation’s objectives are met. The licensing system benefits the community as a whole and has been quite successful. It is however important that the existing processes around occupational licensing in the environment of gaming machine needs continuous examination with a purpose of streamlining so that the system can be made more administrative. The below Figure shows a considerable decrease in the gaming machine industry since 2009.
There are restrictions under the Act that require the venue to provide information to the gambling patrons regarding help-line sources and gaming machine play (van der Maas, 2016). This is done to ensure that there is minimization of harm related to gambling in the community and to the individual’s (National Competition Policy, 2003). An informed choice can be made by the consumer on gambling related decision which may moderate gambling behavior that is at risk (National Competition Council, 2000). The concept of making an informed choice is essential for gamblers who are likely to become potential risk. This restriction is essential for minimization of gaming machines related social harms. This aspect of the legislation is providing with net public benefit and has been sucessful.
The Act prohibits the involvement of minors in gambling. There is also a limitation that is given under the act with respect to the exposure of minors to those parts of licensed venues where activities related to gaming machine occur (Shaffer & Hall, 1996). The opportunity to make profit are denied to hotels and clubs from usage of gaming machines by minors. The capacity to employ minors in operation of gaming machines are denied to hotels and clubs and therefore may lead to labor cost that is considerably higher. This thus minimizes or avoids harm to minor that are related to gambling.This aspect of the legislation is another which is providing with net public benefit and has been sucessful.
Conclusively it can be stated that there implementation of these five elements have been made possible by the Liquor Act 2007 and the Gaming Machines Act 2001. However, the implementation may vary for each essential element to another and so would the outcome. Though the society overall benefits from such implementations.
References
Allen Consulting Group. (2012). Report to the NSW Office of Liquor Gaming & Racing.
Breaking down barriers Community involvement in liquor licensing decisions in NSW. (2013). Fare.Org. Retrieved 1 August 2017, from https://www.fare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/research/Breaking-Down-Barriers-FINAL.pdf
Breen, H., Hing, N., Gordon, A., & Buultjens, J. (2012). Meanings of Aboriginal gambling across New South Wales, Australia. International Gambling Studies, 12(2), 243-256. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2012.664158
Local Impact Assessment Review. (2017). Retrieved 29 July 2017, from https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/Documents/public-consultation/Local%20Impact%20Assessment%20Review%20Discussion%20Paper.pdf
National Competition Council. (2000). Regulating gambling activity; issues in assessing compliance with National Competition Policy. Melbourne.
National Competition Policy. (2003). Review of the NSW Gaming Machines Act 2001.
NSW GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE “STATUTORY REVIEW OF THE LIQUOR ACT 2007 AND THE GAMING AND LIQUOR ADMINISTRATION ACT 2007”. (2014). https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 29 July 2017, from https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/Documents/liquor/law-and-policy/GovernmentResponse_StatutoryReview_LA_GALAA.pdf
Oxland, J., & Roulston, R. (2012). Principles of criminal law in New South Wales. Sydney: Butterworths.
Pratten, J. (2007). Responsible Alcohol Service: Ethics and the Licensee. The Service Industries Journal, 27(5), 605-616. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642060701411765
Responsible Service of Alcohol. (2015). liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 1 August 2017, from https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/Documents/liquor/serving-alcohol-responsibly/rsa_classroom_course.pdf
Shaffer, H., & Hall, M. (1996). Estimating the prevalence of adolescent gambling disorders: A quantitative synthesis and guide toward standard gambling nomenclature. Journal Of Gambling Studies, 12(2), 193-214. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf01539174
Stockwell, T., Young, K., White, J., Humeniuk, R., Young, K., & Young, K. et al. (2005). Alcohol misuse and violence. [Canberra]: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Trifonoff, A., Andrew, R., Steenson, T., Nicholas, R., & Roche, A. (2010). An examination of Liquor Licensing Legislation in Australia as at December 2010. Adelaid: National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction.
Trifonoff, A., & Nicholas, R. (2008). A compendium of alcohol and other drug-related resources for law enforcement in Australia. Hobart, Tas.: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund.
van der Maas, M. (2016). Problem gambling, anxiety and poverty: an examination of the relationship between poor mental health and gambling problems across socio-economic status. International Gambling Studies, 16(2), 281-295. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2016.1172651
Weitzman, E., Folkman, A., Kerry Lemieux Folkman, M., & Wechsler, H. (2003). The relationship of alcohol outlet density to heavy and frequent drinking and drinking-related problems among college students at eight universities. Health & Place, 9(1), 1-6. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1353-8292(02)00014-x
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