Dr LIM - 1997-04-30
Recently, there has been much talk about alcohol and its abuse and how that impacts on antisocial behaviour. What is the government doing to police the sale of alcohol?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the honourable member's question gives me the opportunity to place on record the government's satisfaction with the efforts of the Liquor Commissioner and his staff in dealing with alcohol abuse in our community. In the past few months, since late November 1996, all major licensed premises in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Darwin have been visited by liquor inspectors. There have been 261 inspections of 121 premises, resulting in 13 cases of intoxicated persons on premises being charged, 2 cases of serving intoxicated persons and 2 licences suspended for up to 2 days. The number of commission hearings, as a result of this inspection program, has risen from an annual average of 17 to 32.
Close cooperation with the police in dealing with this problem is ongoing and fundamental to the success of the program. As announced already, the addition of 3 inspectors in the next financial year will result in the commission having 5 inspectors, 2 of whom should be on the road at any one time. In this strategy, all licensed premises across the Territory will
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be visited at least once every year. The focus of these visits will be to ensure that licensees and staff are aware of their responsibilities and are carrying out the provisions of the Liquor Act. There will also be follow-up visits, random visits and unnotified visits to detect breaches of the Liquor Act. This strategy is aimed at irresponsible licensees. While we recognise that the majority of licensees are responsible, there are some who flout the rules and add to the problem. That is the particular group that we are targeting.
The CLP government leads Australia in its innovative methods of tackling the problem of alcohol abuse in the community. Certainly, the Living With Alcohol strategy, financed by a levy on full-strength beer, is the envy of other jurisdictions.
The member for MacDonnell launched a tirade about alcohol in his speech in the adjournment debate last night. The member for MacDonnell is extremely difficult to follow. He criticised the Chief Minister, the Minister for Aboriginal Development or myself in the course of his tirade. I make the assumption that he criticised all 3 of us. The thrust of his comments was that the government has done nothing about dealing with alcohol abuse in the community. He does a great disservice to the Liquor Commissioner and his staff, a great disservice to the police and a great disservice to all those who work in community groups, sobering-up shelters and night patrols throughout the Northern Territory in trying to deal with alcohol abuse. He simply says a few words, generally claiming that we are doing nothing, sits down and thinks he has done his job.
The member talks about a bipartisan approach in dealing with alcohol abuse in the community. His idea of a bipartisan approach is that we do all the work and he criticises. He quoted from the annual report of the Liquor Commission, and he quoted selectively as he always does. He said that we have done nothing and criticised us for a lack of action on prohibition orders. The report recognises the difficulty with enforcing prohibition orders. The Chief Magistrate has advised that he considers the existing provisions of prohibition orders to be draconian and unfair. The fundamental problem appears to be, according to the Chief Magistrate, that it is not acceptable to use photographs of persons subject to prohibition orders. This makes it practically impossible to enforce the orders, as identification ...
Mr Bailey: What are you going to do to resolve it? You are the government.
Mr BURKE: The Liquor Commission is undertaking a total review of the Liquor Act. That review will be presented to me in August. Included in the review will be options and initiatives in respect of streamlining our way of enforcing prohibition orders.
The member quoted selectively from the Liquor Commission's report. He said we have done nothing. He did not mention the efforts of the licensees in Alice Springs. He did not mention the initiatives at Port Keats (Wadeye) or at the Yirrkala community that were mentioned in the report. He did not mention the Tennant Creek initiatives. Whether or not people agree with those initiatives, they were brokered by the government. The member says generally that we have done nothing and thereby he does a great disservice to all of the people who work very hard in dealing with alcohol abuse in our community.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the honourable member's question gives me the opportunity to place on record the government's satisfaction with the efforts of the Liquor Commissioner and his staff in dealing with alcohol abuse in our community. In the past few months, since late November 1996, all major licensed premises in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Nhulunbuy and Darwin have been visited by liquor inspectors. There have been 261 inspections of 121 premises, resulting in 13 cases of intoxicated persons on premises being charged, 2 cases of serving intoxicated persons and 2 licences suspended for up to 2 days. The number of commission hearings, as a result of this inspection program, has risen from an annual average of 17 to 32.
Close cooperation with the police in dealing with this problem is ongoing and fundamental to the success of the program. As announced already, the addition of 3 inspectors in the next financial year will result in the commission having 5 inspectors, 2 of whom should be on the road at any one time. In this strategy, all licensed premises across the Territory will
Page 2094
be visited at least once every year. The focus of these visits will be to ensure that licensees and staff are aware of their responsibilities and are carrying out the provisions of the Liquor Act. There will also be follow-up visits, random visits and unnotified visits to detect breaches of the Liquor Act. This strategy is aimed at irresponsible licensees. While we recognise that the majority of licensees are responsible, there are some who flout the rules and add to the problem. That is the particular group that we are targeting.
The CLP government leads Australia in its innovative methods of tackling the problem of alcohol abuse in the community. Certainly, the Living With Alcohol strategy, financed by a levy on full-strength beer, is the envy of other jurisdictions.
The member for MacDonnell launched a tirade about alcohol in his speech in the adjournment debate last night. The member for MacDonnell is extremely difficult to follow. He criticised the Chief Minister, the Minister for Aboriginal Development or myself in the course of his tirade. I make the assumption that he criticised all 3 of us. The thrust of his comments was that the government has done nothing about dealing with alcohol abuse in the community. He does a great disservice to the Liquor Commissioner and his staff, a great disservice to the police and a great disservice to all those who work in community groups, sobering-up shelters and night patrols throughout the Northern Territory in trying to deal with alcohol abuse. He simply says a few words, generally claiming that we are doing nothing, sits down and thinks he has done his job.
The member talks about a bipartisan approach in dealing with alcohol abuse in the community. His idea of a bipartisan approach is that we do all the work and he criticises. He quoted from the annual report of the Liquor Commission, and he quoted selectively as he always does. He said that we have done nothing and criticised us for a lack of action on prohibition orders. The report recognises the difficulty with enforcing prohibition orders. The Chief Magistrate has advised that he considers the existing provisions of prohibition orders to be draconian and unfair. The fundamental problem appears to be, according to the Chief Magistrate, that it is not acceptable to use photographs of persons subject to prohibition orders. This makes it practically impossible to enforce the orders, as identification ...
Mr Bailey: What are you going to do to resolve it? You are the government.
Mr BURKE: The Liquor Commission is undertaking a total review of the Liquor Act. That review will be presented to me in August. Included in the review will be options and initiatives in respect of streamlining our way of enforcing prohibition orders.
The member quoted selectively from the Liquor Commission's report. He said we have done nothing. He did not mention the efforts of the licensees in Alice Springs. He did not mention the initiatives at Port Keats (Wadeye) or at the Yirrkala community that were mentioned in the report. He did not mention the Tennant Creek initiatives. Whether or not people agree with those initiatives, they were brokered by the government. The member says generally that we have done nothing and thereby he does a great disservice to all of the people who work very hard in dealing with alcohol abuse in our community.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016