Like many of the regulatory requirements confronting liquor licensees in Queensland, it’s difficult to find any express reference in the Liquor Act to the consequences of an Approved Manager’s RMLV certificate expiring.  In fact, despite an intensive reading and searching exercise, I’ve failed to turn anything up. This surprised me as I expected one of two outcomes.

• The first was that hidden away in the high 142ZZZ(etc) sections of the Liquor Act would be an unnoticed provision declaring the automatic cancellation or suspension of the approved manager licence.
• The second was that there would be no consequence at all, and it would really be a matter for the approved manager to address on pain of being investigated and found to be no longer a suitable person to hold the approved manager status.

In the absence of any express provision, I formed the initial view that the second outcome was the real one, which I cautiously communicated to a particular liquor compliance officer.  However, perhaps prompted by a general sense of doubt – logically how can the lapsing of the basic qualification for being an approved manager not have any effect – the astute, if somewhat inexperienced compliance officer did some further homework and came back to me with an alternative and compelling proposition.

Under Section 155AE of the Liquor Act, a liquor licensee in Queensland is required to keep on the premises a copy of the current RMLV certificate of any approved manager employed in the business.  Note the word “current”. The offence carries a whopping 100 penalty unit maximum fine, which translates to a large sum of money – a penalty unit being similar in value to bitcoin. Unlike bitcoin, the value of a penalty unit increases every year without fail, roughly in line with the CPI, on 1 July.  As at the time of writing the value is $126.15 increasing to $130.55. Multiply this by 5 if the offender is a corporation.

So the simple version of things, concisely stated by the intrepid compliance officer, is that the clear intention of the legislation is that whilst an approved manager approval does not automatically lapse or get cancelled or suspended upon expiry of the RMLV certificate, that person should not act in the capacity of an approved manager until a new RMLV certificate has been obtained.

Although it seems like a glaring omission in the Act that it does not deal directly with such an obvious matter, it’s hard to argue with the logic. So, if you haven’t done so recently, now would be a good time to check the expiry dates on your approved managers’ RMLV certificates.

Liquor licence holders in Queensland continue to struggle with the vastly reduced opportunities to apply for one off extended hours permits. Here at LGS we have produced a flow chart and some notes which hopefully will help people navigate the new requirements. A couple of important things to remember…

First, applications for Queensland liquor permits are required to be lodged at least 21 days prior to the event. Recent experience has shown that OLGR are taking this quite seriously and will only accept a late application if it includes an endorsement of no objections from Police. Further recent experience has been that Police are equally reluctant to deal with applications lodged outside the statutory deadline. Therefore licensees would be wise to plan well in advance.

Second, the rule that a liquor licensee can effectively only obtain an extended hours permit for one event per month can have a harsh impact on businesses which would traditionally host numerous functions during a set period; such as Christmas parties during November and December. For licensees in this category it may be worth exploring a permanent extension of trading hours. LGS are working on strategies to minimise the cost of these kinds of approvals.

Lastly, despite the general policy of winding back liquor trading hours around the state, the one off extended hours permits can, remarkably, be applied for through until 5am. Hopefully this provides licensees with an opportunity to generate some additional revenue if only on the handful of significant dates throughout the year.

Download the extended hours approval flowchart and notes. (PDF viewer required.)

Triple J’s afternoon current affairs show Hack recently featured a nicely balanced report on the introduction of mandatory ID scanning for licensed premises in Queensland. Hack’s Stephen Stockwell prepared the report which included interviews with patrons, affected liquor licensees, privacy experts and LGS Director Matthew Jones. Queensland Attorney General Yvette D’ath also defended the scanning policy, answering questions from host Tom Tilley.

Hear the full report here.

Although as at the time of writing the debate about the merits (or lack thereof) of mandatory ID scanning continues, in the interests of trying to simplify a very complex policy we have developed the following flow chart and accompanying notes (PDF download). These attempt to set out the procedure and considerations at the door to the affected licensed premises. We have not included anything regarding the privacy obligations. Liquor licensees will have recently received email correspondence on this subject from OLGR. All of the content of those emails is also on the OLGR website and can be accessed here: Guideline 64: Privacy obligations for establishing and operating identification scanning systems.

ID Scanning Flowchart Notes

1: Patron

Defined as a person entering or seeking to enter the licensed premises to use the areas, facilities or services on offer at the premises.

2: Licensed Area

Strictly speaking, a patron needs to be scanned (if required) before they cross the threshold of the licensed area.

3: Trading period

The period starting on one day and extending to or beyond midnight into the following day.

4: Exempt Classes

At the moment, the exempt classes of liquor licence are commercial special facility licences for casinos and convention centres, subsidiary on-premises (meals) licences – so restaurants and cafes – and subsidiary on-premises licences if the principal activity of the business conducted under the licence is the provision of accommodation.

5: Function

Defined as an event or occasion to which persons are invited by or for the organiser. The definition also in effect requires that the organiser must be someone other than the licensee.

6: Meal

Defined as food that—

1. is eaten by a person sitting at a table, or fixed structure used as a table, with cutlery provided for the purpose of eating the food; and
2. is of sufficient substance as to be ordinarily accepted as a meal.

7: Dining Area

Here dining area means an area ordinarily set aside for dining, which is defined as the part of the licensed premises that is set aside as the regular or usual place for dining on the licensed premises, but does not include a part of the licensed premises set aside merely for a particular day.

8: Exempt Minors

Minors are of course only permitted on licensed premises if they are an exempt minor. The exempt categories include:

1. the minor is a resident on the premises; or
2. the minor is on the premises to—
   1. perform duties as an employee of the owner, or occupier, of the premises or a part of the premises; or
   2. perform duties in the conduct of a lawful business; or
   3. perform duties while receiving training for employment or work experience; or

3. the minor is attending a function being held on the premises; or
4. the premises are premises to which a community club licence, community other licence, craft beer producer permit or restricted liquor permit relates and the minor’s presence does not contravene the club’s rules or a condition of the licence or permit; or
5. the minor is on the premises for a purpose, and in circumstances, approved by the commissioner or stated in a condition of the licence or permit; or
6. the minor—
   1. is eating a meal on the premises; or
   2. is accompanied by a responsible adult who is responsibly supervising the minor.

However, a minor is not an exempt minor merely because the minor is eating a meal on the premises or accompanied by a responsible adult if—

1. the minor is on premises after 5p.m.; and
2. the licence for the premises is a nightclub licence.

9: Exemptions

It’s possible for a licensee to apply to have the regulated hours for scanning adjusted, or to have an area of the premises declared as not requiring scanning. For example, you may be successful in having the requirement for scanning removed for patrons attending only to use a gaming room, or accessing certain outdoor areas, such as a footpath dining area.

10: Scanner Malfunction

A scanner malfunction is what the Act refers to as a system failure meaning relevantly for a licensee a fault in, damage to the ID scanner; or a failure ID scanning system to which the ID scanner is linked.

11: Banned List

If there is a system failure then the licensee must check patrons against a banned list. The banned list must be provided to the licensee by the scanner company and it remains valid for 7 days.

12: May be welcomed into your venue

Note that whether or not a person is scanned successfully and the system tells you they’re not a banned person, your normal procedures for vetting entry will still apply, and you retain your usual rights to exclude undesirable people from your venue.