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FACT SHEET
LIQUOR LICENSING AMENDMENT BILL 2008
· The Liquor Licensing Amendment Bill 2008 amends the Liquor Licensing Act 1990
and the Annulled Convictions Act 2003.
· The Liquor Licensing Act is to be amended to:
- create a new power to enable the Commissioner for Licensing to amend the
conditions attached to an out-of-hours permit if the Commissioner determines
it is in the public interest to do so;
- allow the licensee the right to appeal to the Board against conditions
imposed or altered by the Commissioner;
- make it an offence for a person to present fraudulent identification to obtain
or purchase liquor or to gain entry to premises to which they are not entitled
to enter;
- create a new power to enable a police officer, crowd controller, licensee or
a person employed to sell liquor by the licensee, to seize a identification
document if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that it is false, forged or
fraudulently altered;
- make it an offence if a crowd controller, licensee or person employed to sell
liquor by the licensee who has seized the identification document does not
hand the document to a police officer within 72 hours (3 days);
- create a new power to enable police officers to destroy false, forged or
fraudulently altered identification documents that have been seized;
- increase existing penalties for the sale and supply of liquor to young people
from 10 penalty units to 50 penalty units ($6 000) for liquor-serving
employees and from 20 penalty units to 100 penalty units ($12 000) for
licensees;
- increase penalties for offences committed by a young person, such as
purchasing liquor and consuming liquor on licensed premises, from 10 to 20
penalty units ($2 400);
- make it an offence for a licensee if a liquor-serving employee sells liquor to
a person who appears to be drunk, 100 penalty units ($12 000);
- clarify the requirement that licensees must be able to verify, in a form
approved by the Commissioner, that persons employed in the service of
liquor have been trained in accordance with Section 46A of the Act;
- enable police officers to issue infringement notices (similar to traffic
infringements) for breach of the Act;
- provide the Commissioner the discretion to investigate an existing associate
of a licensee if the Commissioner suspects that their situation has changed
and they may no longer be of good repute;
- enable the Commissioner, or on behalf of the Commissioner, an authorised
officer; the discretionary capacity to investigate the suitability of an associate,
if required;
- require licensees to notify the Commissioner if alterations are being made
to any areas that have been designated under section 84 of the Act;
- enable the Commissioner to add, remove or amend conditions of a special
liquor licence at a licensees written request or at the discretion of the
Commissioner (upon consultation with the licensee and approval from the
Liquor Licensing Board);
- allow the licensee the right to appeal to the Board against conditions
imposed or altered by the Commissioner;
- reinstate the original policy intent that a person be `fit and proper' to hold a
licence (rather than `of good repute') and extend the test to the associates of
the person;
- remove the requirement for one member of the Liquor Licensing Board to
be a legal practitioner; and
- simplify the appointment process for the Commissioner for Licensing and
align it with section 7 of the Taxation Administration Act 1997.
- The Annulled Convictions Act is to be amended to include applications for
liquor licences and permits as "non-exempt applications", meaning that when
applications for liquor licences and permits are assessed, annulled convictions
are disclosed.