2336 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Wednesday 26 September 2007 __________ The Speaker (The Hon. George Richard Torbay) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. The Speaker read the Prayer and acknowledgement of country. LIQUOR AMENDMENT (SPECIAL EVENTS HOTEL TRADING) BILL 2007 Agreement in Principle Debate resumed from 25 September 2007. Mr DARYL MAGUIRE (Wagga Wagga) [10.00 a.m.]: Whilst we are waiting for the shadow Minister for Gaming and Racing to officially reply on behalf of the Coalition, I would like to make a contribution to this debate. The object of the Liquor Amendment (Special Events Hotel Trading) Bill 2007 is to extend the trading hours of hotels on certain days during the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and to enable the trading hours of hotels to be extended during any period prescribed by the regulations, being a period that coincides with the holding of a special event of regional, State, national or international significance. The extended hotel trading hours in relation to the 2007 Rugby World Cup are until 1.00 a.m. on the mornings following Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 October 2007—hotels are normally required to close at midnight on Saturdays and at 10.00 p.m. on Sundays—and from 5.00 a.m. on the morning of Sunday 7, Sunday 14 and Sunday 21 October 2007. Hotels normally cannot open until 10.00 a.m. on a Sunday. These extended trading hours coincide with the times when some of the final matches of the Rugby World Cup will be played. In the case of the mornings of Sunday 7 October and Monday 8 October, which is the anticipated finishing time of the matches being played at that time, the 1.00 a.m. closing time will, if the relevant match is still in progress because of extra time or some other reason, be extended until the completion of the match. However, extended trading past 1.00 a.m. will apply only if the hotel is actually showing live coverage of the match to its patrons. The extended hotel trading permitted by the proposed Act, including any period prescribed by the regulations in relation to a special event, will apply only to the sale or supply of liquor for consumption in hotels. As I said, the bill applies only to special events. Whilst I do not lead on behalf of the Coalition and I expect the shadow Minister to clearly state our case in more expanded terms, these special events that are attracted to New South Wales and our cities are important and it is essential that government gets it right. I reflect briefly on two major events that were held last year when the city of Sydney was caught very much unaware. There were traffic jams and gridlock, and I know that many hospitality venues were caught short. I am concerned that there may be implications from the bill. I certainly would be keen for the Parliamentary Secretary at the table, the member for Miranda, to clarify in his response the powers of the Minister in relation to the bill. I would be very concerned, as I think others would be, that the bill would give the Minister carte blanche to sign off on any agreement at any time to extend trading hours for what the Minister deems to be a special event. The bill has other implications, which I am sure the shadow Minister will expand upon in his contribution. Mr GEORGE SOURIS (Upper Hunter) [10.05 a.m.]: I am delighted to lead for the Opposition on the Liquor Amendment (Special Events Hotel Trading) Bill 2007, and I thank the member for Wagga Wagga for keeping the fires going for the time being. At the outset I indicate that the Opposition wholeheartedly supports the opportunity for hotels to have extended hours to afford telecasts of the Rugby World Cup rugby union tournament, which is underway in France at the moment. Indeed, there are only a few days in question; they are identified in bill. Some of those days involve telecasts which would screen a match commencing at 1.00 a.m., and on other days matches would commence at 5.00 a.m. In relation to the former, I can readily see that it would be good policy to extend hotel trading hours, firstly so that patrons can view the game, and secondly so that hoteliers do not have any trouble with disgruntled patrons being asked to interrupt their enjoyment of the Rugby World Cup and then the patrons perhaps spilling onto the streets and causing trouble. 26 September 2007 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 2337 However, I have some reservations about who would get out of bed at 4.30 a.m. to go to a hotel to watch a rugby match—unless, of course, it is a final match and Australia is participating. If that is the case, I will be up at 4.30 a.m. with them! That would be a good outcome indeed. I am a little distressed at the way in which the bill has come forward. I have a significant reservation, and indeed foreshadow that if the bill remains intact and the Government is hell-bent on pursuing it in that form, the Opposition will oppose it in the lower House and will seek leave in the other place to move an amendment. The issue I refer to arises out of the part of the bill which seeks to give the Minister open-ended powers into the future to select any special event of regional, State or national significance and to by gazette extended hotel trading hours without reference to Parliament. Having said that, I see some logic in the bill's provisions, providing we can have a proper debate and we can consider the issue in the fullness of time. Indeed, a large liquor bill is to come before the Parliament shortly, and this is the appropriate place to include such a provision and subject it to general debate. The Government approached the Opposition, firstly by phone—and I thank the Minister for phoning me the night before the introduction of the bill, that is, last Monday night—and we were presented on Tuesday morning with a memorandum, rather than a copy of the bill, by Mr Phillip Kelly—and I appreciate the reason for that. At no stage were either the Minister or Mr Kelly able to tell me that the bill also contained the blanket provision allowing the Minister, at any time in the future, to gazette extended trading hours for any special event the Minister may decide. I discovered this an hour or so after I had been given the memorandum. It seems that by using the Rugby World Cup as a smokescreen, the Government is now trying to slip into the bill a major provision which refers not only to these few days of the Rugby World Cup but also to any day in the future that the Minister deems to be a special event and therefore deems it appropriate to extend hotel trading hours. This is not the bill in which that provision should be included. If the Government really wants to deal properly with public policy, this is not correct approach. The Rugby World Cup currently underway in France was planned some four years ago—at least during the last time this House sat before rising in June this year. It was very clear on what days and at what times events or pool games would be held, when the quarter-finals and semi-finals would be held, when the final would be on, and whether the winner of pool A played the winner of pool B, et cetera. All the details were clearly identified for everyone to know, particularly the Government, and that was the case well before the Parliament last sat. So, to turn up here on Tuesday morning with a sudden and urgent bill requiring the suspension of standing orders so that it can pass through both Houses this week to provide for extended trading hours for hotels for the duration of the Rugby World Cup demonstrates to me that the Government is not aware of what are major events. The Government has not had proper consultation with the industry. I know that for many months before today the industry certainly has been seeking the Government's assistance to operate extended trading hours during the Rugby World Cup—for many, many months. So, that is not an excuse. What has the Government been doing all this time? It has been doing nothing. It has been sitting on its hands and all of a sudden the Rugby World Cup is upon us. Someone in the Minister's office—perhaps the Minister himself, who knows—suddenly has realised that the change has to happen this week otherwise the Government has made a mess administratively of the requirement to put before the House this bill to extend trading hours. I would have thought that was bad enough, but with the cooperation of the Opposition this bill would have passed through both Houses very quickly and the industry then would have had at least some time— I would hope sufficient time—to organise staffing and all of the other aspects, for example, to organise public transport, to fit in as well as possible with the proposed extended hours. At least that would have been possible, but now the Government has included this blanket power of the Minister to declare a special event on any future day. Even by pretending that between today and the conclusion of debate on the liquor bill in a few months' time a special day might arise so that such blanket power is necessary in case of a major event of international or national significance, is the Government trying to say that it does not know what sporting events of international significance have been scheduled on the world program? Everyone in the entire world knows, but the New South Wales Government, under current arrangements and the current Minister, does not know.