Page 199 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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The Greens are calling on the government to ensure that live music venues are not adversely affected by the new licensing framework. To achieve this, the government should commit to not including the presence or absence of live music as a factor indicating risk of violence. As I said earlier, the evidence is that venue capacity and trading hours are reliable indicators of risk of violence. The same cannot be said of the presence or non-presence of music. The research we have performed has found differing reports on the role live music has when it comes to generating violence.
Finally, I would like to speak to the need to spark a cultural change. The motion finishes by calling on the government to commit to a legislative time frame for implementing the alcohol reforms. This time frame concludes with the reforms being in place by the 2010-11 summer season, perhaps the busiest time of year. There are a number of very important steps along the way to having the reforms in place for the next summer season. A crucial step is talking to the patrons and hospitality staff, those that work in the industry, about the proposed reforms and educating them about the changes.
A key example is the proposed new offence of providing an already drunk person with more alcohol. Importantly, the proposal is that this offence would cover both bar staff and patrons. Everyone needs to be aware of these types of changes to the law because if people are not aware of the new law proposals they simply cannot be implemented and the good measures that are being sought to achieve will not be achieved most successfully.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.04): I move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit paragraphs (2) and (3), substitute:
“(2) notes:
(a) the Government’s release of the Discussion Paper Review of Liquor Act 1975 and release in September 2009 of the final report on the Review; and
(b) the ACT Greens’ paper Reducing Alcohol Related Violence: A New Framework for the ACT; and
(3) notes the ACT Government is committed to:
(a) evidence based policies to lower alcohol related violence by introducing a risk based licensing framework;
(b) ensure that the operation of live music venues is encouraged and not inappropriately deterred through the risk based licensing framework, given their contribution to a vibrant community;
(c) providing year-round affordable public transport options that support the introduction of venue supplied courtesy transport;
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