The Queensland Coalition for Action on Alcohol (QCAA) and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) welcome the opportunity to provide input to the consultation on the Liquor and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017.
Both QCAA and FARE were strong supporters of the alcohol measures introduced under the Tackling Alcohol-Fuelled Violence legislation Amendment Act 2016. These measures were introduced because of the strength of the evidence on their effectiveness in reducing alcohol harm.
While the interim evaluation report found no change in the rate of decline in the incidence of alcohol-fuelled violence, police representatives have reported a reduction in the severity of the assaults. These more subtle benefits should not be underestimated or undervalued. Care is needed in evaluating the effectiveness of these measures to ensure that there is a consideration and understanding of the nuances associated with the data.
QCAA and FARE are disappointed that the Queensland Government has backed down on its commitment to implement all of the measures in its Tackling alcohol-fuelled violence legislation.
Recommendations
The QCAA submission addresses each of the amendments included in the Bill and indicates QCAA’s position according to whether there is support, support with further changes, or no support for the amendment.
- Repeal the 1am lockout.
QCAA does not support the cancellation of the legislated 1am lockout provision. - Repeal the 3am Safe Night Precincts.
QCAA does not support the abolition of 3am Safe Night Precincts. - Wind back trading hours for licensees removed from a Safe Night Precinct due to a boundary change.
QCAA supports this amendment. - Reduce the number of one-off late night extended hours permits and tighten eligibility requirements.
QCAA supports the cessation of the approval of late-night extended hours permits after ‘last drinks’ provisions. If they are to be permitted, the number should be kept to a minimum. QCAA supports moves to tighten eligibility requirements for these permits and provide rigour to the assessment of applications. - Extend the banning order sentencing regime to include prescribed drug offences.
QCAA supports this amendment and recommends that alcohol and other drugs testing should be introduced for all arrests near licensed venues, and for all arrests in Safe Night Precincts. - Provide certainty over introduction of ID scanners and clarify need for licensed venues with one-off late night trading permits to continue to use ID scanners beyond their usual trading hours.
QCAA supports this amendment.
FARE supports the submission made by the QCAA and makes some additional comments.
