Liquor Licensing Act Amendments - no need to panic!

LG Leader March 2018

Further to our previous LG Alert, portion of the Liquor Licensing (Liquor Review) Amendment Act 2017 (“the Amending Act”) has been proclaimed and is now in force.

One section that is yet to be proclaimed is section 56 of the Amending Act which will amend sections 76 and 77 of the Liquor Licensing Act 1997 (“the Act”) as it concerns councils’ right of intervention and objection in respect of licence applications.

We have heard concerns raised that section 56 of the Amending Act will completely deprive councils of any say or involvement in licence applications.

These concerns are, thankfully, unfounded.

Presently, section 76 of the Act provides councils with an unqualified right to intervene in a licence application for the purposes of introducing evidence or making representations.  It is possible for councils to intervene in licence applications without providing reasons for the intervention at the outset.

In practice, councils do not intervene in licence applications without good reason to do so!

The Amending Act provides councils with a right to make written submissions on a licence application.  The submissions must be made on particular grounds, each of which are listed in our LG Alert and each of which reflect the common reasons why councils choose to intervene in licence applications now.

Where submissions are received, the Licensing Commissioner has the discretion to refer a licence application to conciliation.  The Licensing Commissioner can also refer an application to the Licensing Court.

In practice, the ability of councils to raise legitimate concerns on a licence application will continue to exist once section 56 of the Amending Act is proclaimed.

We will continue to keep councils updated as to the commencement of the balance of the Amendment Act.