Liquor licensing demonstration project - WA

A joint project with the Alcohol Advisory Council of WA funded by the Health Department of WA as a Commonwealth Demonstration project.

In common with Liquor Acts in other States, the WA Liquor Act now has an explicit focus on harm minimisation as one of its primary objects. The purpose of this project was to develop and apply a model for the dissemination of local information about levels of alcohol related harm and high risk drinking, serving and promotional practices. The database established for the Measurement of Alcohol Problems for Policy (MAPP) project was updated and interviews with stakeholders and decision-makers in the area of liquor licensing took place to investigate the optimal form of local information on harm and risk. Issues of confidentiality were examined in detail and also the issue of the legal admissability of the data as evidence in court case. A major outcome of the project was confirmation that the WA Police were willing to pass on information about violent incidents and drink-driving offences associated with particular licensed premises to the WA Health Department as well as the Director of Liquor Licensing. A formal legal agreement was drawn up and signed by all relevant authorities to ratify this arrangement. Local profiles of harm and consumption were created for the thus use of the Health Department and their input to licensing decision-making will be monitored by NDRI in the future. The final report has been completed and is available both from NDRI and the Alcohol Advisory Council of WA.