Top cops target 'happy hour'

DOUG ROBERTSON, POLICE REPORTER

May 27, 2008 12:30am

EXCLUSIVE: AUSTRALIA'S police chiefs are demanding a review of licensing laws to curb public drunkenness and alcohol-related crime.

In a national first, the country's seven commissioners today will call for the abolition of "happy hours" and 24-hour access to licensed premises.

The strategy – which follows the Rudd Government's campaign against binge drinking – challenges state legislators to make it an offense for intoxicated people to be on licensed premises. SA Police Commissioner Mal Hyde last night told The Advertiser licensees had to be made more accountable for the "privilege of holding a liquor license rather than seeing it as a license to print money".

Mr Hyde and his interstate counterparts also want legislators to clarify the definition of "intoxication" to enable licensees and patrons to be prosecuted for excessive drinking.

"We think there ought to be a greater accountability on licensees and there ought to be offences for simply having intoxicated people on licensed premises," he said.

"The licensee would then take a more pro-active and positive approach to making sure they didn't have intoxicated people and they didn't supply intoxicated people.

"I think we should have a wholesale review of liquor licensing which is focusing on the negative parts of the supply of alcohol.

"We should be then making sure that there is an accountability. That the people with liquor licences regard it as a privilege for which they have obligations. Not just a licence to make money."

Mr Hyde said clear codes of conduct and stronger conditions for gaining a liquor licence must be devised to increase the accountability of licensees.

He said stronger legislation was needed to support new enforcement regimes in a changing society where alcohol was available in a growing number of hotels, cafes and other public outlets.

Alcohol was the drug most commonly found in trauma patients at major hospitals while road crashes, industrial accidents, violence – both domestic and random – and other crimes were linked to alcohol abuse.

"The reality is you can do all the education you can do but unless you have an effective enforcement regime in place you will not get a satisfactory outcome," Mr Hyde said.

"I think it's now time to make sure the liquor licensing legislation is going to serve us well in the future."

Mr Hyde said the nation's police commissioners were united in the push but each would address issues important to their states.

"We're seeing a trend here (growing alcohol consumption) which is not going to be easily changed and a key part of it all is liquor licensing," he said.

"If we want a better place to live, we have to grasp the nettle in terms of responsibly dealing with alcohol."

Mr Hyde said public safety and intoxication were among the major social issues facing South Australia.

"Intoxication is the issue for us, so you've got to look at what contributes to people being intoxicated," he said.

"We're concerned about the impact on public safety, on crime, assaults, public safety.

"So we need to make sure we limit the intoxication which is going to contribute to public safety issues."

A social drinker, Mr Hyde said selling "shooters" and holding "happy hours" promoted irresponsible drinking and should be stopped.

However, he emphasized the police commissioners were not trying to undermine Australia's tradition of social drinking – provided it was done in moderation.

"There's nothing wrong with that," he said.

"But if you don't back it up with responsible supply, you end up with a whole lot of harms in society.

"Unfortunately, there's a number of people who don't take those responsibilities to heart and they misbehave. There's no right to have alcohol available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Many other forms of business aren't in that form, so why is it different for alcohol?"

Alcohol-related crime is estimated to cost Australia at least $1.7 billion, with $750 million spent on law enforcement.

National statistics show that 40 per cent of people detained nationally each year attribute their criminal behavior to alcohol consumption.

Mr Hyde said reducing alcohol consumption was not the sole responsibility of police and required a multi-agency approach.