Page 4111 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 2010
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very simple job to do here, but I think there is no really clear basis on which one could determine whether an exemption is warranted or not. I think the simpler process is to ensure that all venues that are licensed to serve alcohol do actually stop and consider what risk factors they may have. That simple process may actually ensure that perhaps something that someone did not think of—that was not as obvious as they might have considered—does actually cross their minds and a little bit of thought goes on there. So I think this is a valuable process, and we will not be supporting the amendments put forward by Mrs Dunne.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (5.49): The government will not be supporting this series of amendments either. The risk assessment management plan is the primary source of information sharing between licensees and the regulator about the responsible management of premises. In order for the Commissioner for Fair Trading to make informed licensing decisions, the commissioner needs the information in the RAMP to be able to assess how each licensee will manage the risks associated with their premises.
It is important that all licensees supplying liquor, including supply from low risk premises, are conscious of the risks associated with the supply of liquor to the public. All sales of alcohol carry associated risks, but some are higher than others. All licensees need to take into account the risks associated with the product they are supplying to the marketplace in their management practices. In addition, without all venues having completed a RAMP, the commissioner would not be able to take into account the cumulative impact a new liquor licence might have on the safety of the community in the surrounding area where there are already a number of licensed premises.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (5.51): I think this is disappointing and shows a lack of appreciation of the difficulty that your local Thai or Vietnamese restaurant has in running a business. This is what this series of amendments would be aimed at. These are people who have no adverse regulatory history, and it would be up to the commissioner to make that judgement. I will give you an example of my local Vietnamese, which was the first Vietnamese in town, the Page Vietnamese. It has been running for 35 years.
Mr Hargreaves: The first one was in Pearce.
MRS DUNNE: Was it?
Mr Hargreaves: Yes.
MRS DUNNE: Well, it was one of the first. It has been running, to my knowledge, for 35 years. It provides a great service to the local community. People go and get their takeaway, they go and have a meal with friends and family, and there is never any trouble as a result of this restaurant having a liquor licence. That can be said for scores of suburban, mainly ethnic, restaurants—Vietnamese, Chinese and an increasing number of Thai restaurants. They provide a service to the community. What we are going to do is create, if we are not careful, an onerous level of paperwork.
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