Map your steps - liquor licensing ACT

The key steps involved in supporting communities to participate in liquor licensing processes are provided below as a useful starting point for developing your liquor licensing activity and informing your approach.

Local Drug Action Teams may address liquor licensing in a number of ways, such as:

• submitting a representation (comment/objection)
• encouraging and assisting local residents to submit their own representations
• or working more broadly in the community to raise awareness of alcohol harms and the liquor licensing process.

Find out about new liquor licence applications

LDATs can find out about new liquor licence applications through Access Canberra, which lists all public notices (such as liquor licence applications). Representations on the licence application must be made within 30 days of the application being submitted.

The public register of liquor licence applications is available here

Entering “liquor” in the search bar should produce the relevant results for you.

Only basic information is provided; primarily the applicant, the venue location, and the hours of operation. The detailed liquor licence application is not available to the public.

LDATs may wish to set up a system to monitor for new liquor licensing applications. Consider dividing up the work of monitoring among partner organisations in your LDAT. Some partners, such as police, may be in a position where their organisation must be notified about new applications.

Collect evidence to support your liquor licence objection

It is important to collect evidence to support your liquor licence objection.

As you collect evidence to support your liquor licence objection you will be building a profile of your community. LDATs can create local community profiles in advance, so they are ready to respond to potentially problematic licence applications as they arise. Being proactive and collecting evidence early is recommended so communities can make strong submissions, particularly when timeframes for community participation are short.

It is important to draw on expert opinion and research to support your liquor licence objection. You may wish to divide responsibility for collecting evidence with your partners. Some partners may be well placed to collect certain types of data.

Local data on the following areas can be useful as they are relevant to objections under the Liquor Act 2010:

• health
• injury
• property damage
• safety of the general public
• pleasantness and attractiveness of the area (amenity).

Additional data to help build a community profile and support your liquor licence objection is outlined below.

Evidence to support liquor licensing objections

Liquor outlet density

Liquor outlet density data provides information on:

• the number of licensed premises in your Local Government Area (LGA)
• the number of licensed premises in your LGA compared with other LGAs, including the ACT and national average
• how the number of licensed premises has changed over time.

Density information can be access through the public register.

It is organised by licence type, not location, and will require sorting to your relevant area.If your community already has a high density of liquor outlets, especially in comparison to other LGAs, it will support your argument that adding another will increase harms from alcohol.

Why it is important

If your liquor outlet density has increased rapidly, you can argue that there has been an introduction of many new outlets and the impact of the outlets on the community needs to be determined before introducing another.

Trading hours

A liquor licence only permits alcohol sales during certain hours. Ordinary trading hours are from 7am to 12 midnight. Some licence applications seek to extend ordinary trading hours beyond midnight.

Some days are a special case for hours of sale, such as Anzac Day and Christmas Day.

Unfortunately, there is no active record kept of trading hour exemptions in the ACT. It would be up to your LDAT to collate the information about trading hours in your relevant area.If your community has many late-trading venues, adding another — either by extending the hours of a current venue, or licensing a new one — could increase harms.

Why it is important

If your community does not have many late-trading venues, you may still be concerned about noise, litter, drink-driving, intoxicated behaviour, and violence that can be associated with late trading.

SEIFA rating

Socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA) are produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). They map relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.

For LDATs seeking more information, the ABS have produced a number of resources to explain how to use the indexes. You might want to start with the SEIFA basics¹ or the video tutorial introducing SEIFA.² Communities with a lower socio-economic status experience more alcohol-related harms than more advantaged communities.

Why it is important

If your community’s SEIFA is low it can help you demonstrate that your community is at higher risk of alcohol-related harms.

Community profiles and data

There are a number of existing sources of information that can inform your community profile.

Your local council should have a profile of your area which they may share with you.

The ABS has also put together community profiles that include data such as educational attainment and population demographics.

You can download a community profile³ for your LGA and postal area from the ABS website.Harms from alcohol vary between communities for many complex and interconnected reasons.

Why it is important

Communities can be at increased risk of harms if they have a low educational attainment, limited employment opportunities, and lower relative socio-economic status.⁴

Rates of violence

Rates of alcohol-related violence include assaults and family violence. Ideally these rates would be compared over time and between areas.

Your local police or council may have data on the rates of alcohol-related violence.

Why it is important

If your community is experiencing high rates of alcohol-related violence this is an important point to make in your objection.

However, caution should be taken in relying too heavily on ‘alcohol-related’ crimes. This is because rates are dependent on the police at the time recording such information. If it is available, crimes such as assaults and family violence tend to be under-reported.

Health outcomes

Data on alcohol-attributable hospitalisations and deaths in your LGA may be helpful to your submission. Consider approaching your local health care providers, such as hospitals, to find out if they collect data you can use.

You could also consider the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) data on alcohol harms,⁵ including health outcomes. The AIHW’s report on the impact of alcohol on Australia’s burden of disease and injury may also be relevant.⁶

You may also consider approaching treatment services that help people address their alcohol dependency.

Why it is important

Current rates of alcohol-attributable health issues in your community may be taken into consideration when the licence is being decided on.

It can support the argument that increasing the availability of alcohol, either by increasing liquor outlet density or by extending venue trading hours, may increase the existing burden of alcohol-attributable health issues.

Property damage

Property damage refers to both public property (such as stolen or damaged street signs, or damaged nature strips) and private property (such as broken shopfront windows).

Your local council, police, local business association, or residents in the entertainment precinct may be able to provide this data. It may also be useful to ask local businesses in the entertainment precinct/other areas with a concentration of liquor outlets what levels of damage and litter they must deal with after a Friday or Saturday night (e.g. vomit, smashed windows, noise, disruption etc.).

Why it is important

The Liquor Act 2010 requires consideration of whether granting a licence will increase local property damage and decrease the overall amenity of the area.

If there are already high rates of property damage, or an overall decrease in amenity, due to liquor outlets and their patrons’ behaviour you can argue on those grounds that granting or extending licences will increase those problems.

Get the community involved

LDATs have an opportunity to involve the community in liquor licensing processes. This may involve raising awareness in the community about why licensing matters, how the community can get involved in the process, and gathering local feedback and needs. For example, as price also affects alcohol consumption levels, community members may be particularly concerned about bulk-purchase, barn style bottle shops opening in their neighbourhood, heavily discounted take-away liquor promotions, and irresponsible ‘happy hour’ or other cheap drink promotions at drinking venues.

The number of objections may be seen by decision-makers as an indicator of social impact and increase the influence on decisions. Therefore, when your LDAT makes a representation (objection/comment) on a licence, it is worthwhile encouraging community members to also make a representation and assisting community partners and local residents to submit their own representations on that same licence.

LDATs may raise local awareness and engage the community in a number of different ways, including:

• speak to the local paper
• hold a community meeting
• create a Facebook group/discussion
• form a coalition with local organisations.

Formulate your response

When formulating your response, focus on the following:

• Community concerns. You need to clearly articulate the community's concerns about how the new licence would affect the community. Consider how you can demonstrate the validity of those concerns with the data you have. Link your argument to the Liquor Act 2010 grounds for making a representation. Draw on expert opinion and research when possible. Consider the concerns of your LDAT, community members and partner organisations.
• The outcome you are seeking. Depending on the specific licence application you may be seeking different outcomes. Perhaps you want restrictions such as a cap on trading hours, a ban on late-night trading, and certain types of drink restrictions (like no shots or doubles) or you may not want the licence granted at all. You may be more likely to get restrictions placed on a licence than to have the licence denied.

Community concerns, the outcome you are seeking, and the data about your community, should guide how you put together your representation. Objections should also be put together in consultation with the community and partner organisations.

Grounds for making a representation (objection/comment)

You must restrict your representation to addressing the suitability of:

• the proposed licensee
• close associates
• influential people
• people in the day-to-day control of the premises
• the premises itself.

Liquor Act 2010

The details of the Liquor Act 2010 are important because they indicate what will be considered when the licence is being determined, and therefore what kinds of objections are relevant.

The object of this Act is to regulate the sale, supply, promotion and consumption of liquor:

a) To minimise the harm associated with the consumption of liquor.

b) To facilitate the responsible development of the liquor and hospitality industries in a way that takes into account community safety.

c) In a way that encourages and supports liquor consumers to take responsibility for-

Section 10 of the Act also requires decision-makers to take into consideration harm minimisation and community safety principles, including:

• encouraging responsible attitudes and practices towards the sale, supply, promotion and consumption of alcohol
• regulating the liquor industry in a way that minimises harm from alcohol including:
  • adverse health effects
  • personal injury
  • property damage
  • violent or anti-social behaviour
• protecting and enhancing community amenity, social harmony, and wellbeing
• not causing undue disturbance to nearby premises or because of proximity to a place of public worship, hospital, or school.

Lodge your representation

You can lodge your representation to the Commissioner via:

• Post to: The Commissioner for Fair Trading, Access Canberra, GPO 158, CANBERRA ACT 2601.
• Email: liquor@act.gov.au.

Follow up

Having a follow up debrief with partners provides a good opportunity to keep a sense of cohesion and momentum in your group. Discuss what worked well, what didn’t, and improve your planning and strategising for next time.

Measuring success and reporting

Measure the success of your liquor licensing activity:

• Collect measures of success with the community organisations you are engaging with, as well as the community members you have been reaching with your liquor licensing activity.
• Report on your success, acquit your funds and consider other things you can do to support your community (see Next steps).