Canberra facing strict new licensing laws

  • Published
    Wed, May 11, 2016, 12:04
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  • The Australian capital is the latest spot facing tougher legislation for late night operators.
  • Canberra facing strict new licensing laws image
  • The ACT's late night community has launched a Keep Canberra Open campaign in response to proposed new licensing laws. Last month the ACT Government published a paper which detailed a number of suggested changes to liquor licensing in the Australian capital in an effort to curb alcohol-fuelled violence. The paper suggests three potential scenarios: either alcohol service must cease at 3 AM statewide without exception or, alternatively, venues may apply to extend their licensed time to 4 AM or 5 AM at the cost of a 300 or 500 percent license fee increase respectively. According to the ABC, the latter scenario would see a nightclub trading until 5 AM "having their fee increased from about $26,000 to more than $100,000." Frank Condi, owner of local nightclubs Academy and Mr Wolf, told the Canberra Times that "if we stop serving drinks at 3 AM, and we're paying $130,000 in fees, it's just not going to be viable," going on to say "to increase the fees by 500 per cent, I might as well close the doors." Following the lead of NSW's successful anti-lockouts movement Keep Sydney Open, late night operators have banded together to voice their concerns through the new Keep Canberra Open channel. An online petition, which suggests that the measures "will not address the issue of alcohol related violence and will result in damage to the vibrancy and economy of the ACT," has been launched by KCO which currently has around 6,000 signatures. The "Building On Liquor Reform" paper is available to read here, with community feedback submissions open until the end of this week. While Canberrans begin to mobilise against the newly proposed restrictions, Sydney's nighttime community continues to follow developments in its fight against lockouts. An independent review of the NSW Government's controversial licensing legislation began in February, and more than 1,800 submissions from the public were published last month, with many speaking out in support of relaxing the laws in some form or abolishing them altogether. Ian Callinan QC, the retired High Court Justice in charge of the review, will deliver his findings to the Government in August. Prior to the conclusion of the review, a parliamentary debate on the matter is due to take place this week after KSO's offline petition, which garnered nearly 12,000 signatures, was tabled by NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong. The debate is scheduled for this Thursday, May 12th, and will be open to the public when it commences at 4:30 PM in NSW Parliament House. Queensland is also bracing for a July implementation of the most restrictive lockouts and last drinks legislation in the country. When the laws were passed back in February, community organisation Our Nightlife Queensland echoed a similar sentiment to that of its Sydney and Canberra counterparts. "Once again, small business has been sold out for big interests" they said via Facebook, adding that "while we all agree that drug use, violence and intoxication are a terrible mix, we stand by our position that this is punishing 99.99% of patrons because the Government cannot effectively target the 0.01% of dickheads, thugs, perpetrators terrorising our streets at night."
RA