North Coast alcohol operation nets $25,000 in fines

More than $25,000 in fines have been issued after a nine-day operation targeting licensed venues on the NSW North Coast.

Senior inspectors from the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing’s Strategic Enforcement Branch and NSW Police carried out the joint operation targeting hotels, registered clubs, nightclubs, bottleshops and restaurants from May 3-11.

The extensive operation was part of the Alcohol Response Taskforce program in the Tweed-Byron, Richmond, Coffs-Clarence and Mid-North Coast Local Area Commands to ensure ongoing compliance with liquor, gaming and registered club laws.

Three intoxicated patrons were detected at hotels in Lennox Head, Ballina and Lismore, with a $550 penalty notice issued to the licensee of each venue. Bar workers at two of the venues (hotels at Ballina and Lismore) will be fined $550 each for serving the intoxicated patron.

A university at Lismore closed its bar after inspectors attended the premises and identified irregularities with their liquor licence. Further inquiries are being made.

A Maclean hotel and a Tweed Heads hotel will be fined $550 each for selling liquor while unlicensed after it was discovered that they did not have a current licensee and paperwork transferring the licence had not been lodged.

A registered club at Ballina will be fined $330 after it was caught selling liquor from its bottleshop directly to the general public. Clubs must only operate bottleshops that are accessible once patrons have signed in.

Nine hotels on the North Coast (Ballina, Lismore, Goonellabah, Mullumbimby, Brunswick Heads, Ocean Shores, and Tweed Heads) will be issued with an $1100 fine each after it was discovered that gaming machines in their gaming rooms could be seen from the street.

No minors were detected in restricted areas of licensed venues during the operation.

Compliance levels in the Byron Bay area were found to be high.

Director of Liquor and Gaming Albert Gardner said licensed venues must ensure long-term compliance with liquor, gaming and registered clubs laws to ensure responsible service and consumption of alcohol, and responsible gambling.

“While licensed venues have substantially improved compliance levels since the Alcohol Response Taskforce was established on the North Coast, the results of this operation show that they cannot be complacent,” Mr Gardner said.

“I was pleased that there were no minors detected on licensed premises during the operation, with many venues adopting taskforce recommendations to improve ID checking procedures such as the use of black-light testing devices to detect fake IDs.

“It was disappointing that two bar workers were caught serving intoxicated patrons after the hard work we have put in to educate local licensees and their staff to help them improve responsible service of alcohol practices.

“The Alcohol Response Taskforce program will continue to provide additional education and enforcement resources across the NSW North Coast.

“The taskforce provides Responsible Service of Alcohol, ID Checking and Security Workshops for licensees and their staff, audits of licensed venues to assist licensees to strengthen their alcohol and security management plans, as well as covert operations to test compliance levels.”

Richmond Local Area Commander Superintendent Bruce Lyons said police would continue to work with the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing to enforce liquor laws to minimise the impact of licensed venues on the local community.

“I am sure this partnership will see a reduction in liquor licensing offences, anti-social behaviour and other alcohol-related crime that occurs in and around licensed venues,” Superintendent Lyons said.

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