Calls for standardised drink laws
The Department for Sport and Recreation has criticised inconsistencies in how liquor licensing rules are applied to some of the State's major entertainment venues.
Under current rules basketball fans watching a game at the new Perth Arena can buy full strength alcoholic drinks before, during and after the games, but football patrons at Subiaco Oval are restricted to low strength drinks.
The director-general of the Department of Sport and Recreation, Ron Alexander, says that does not make sense.
His views are contained in the department's submission to a Government-commissioned review of the Liquor Control Act.
The submission also reveals the department does not support the well-publicised push to ban alcohol advertising in sport, saying it is an overly simplistic solution to the issue of alcohol abuse.
The director-general of the Department for Child Protection, Terry Murphy, says he wants the Government to introduce secondary supply laws in Western Australia.
Similar laws already exist in other states and under them adults who supply alcohol to children in a private home without their parents' consent can face fines of at least $7000.
In the DCP submission to the review Mr Murphy says such laws would encourage adults to ensure access to alcohol in the home is not unrestricted and unsupervised.
The laws have already won the backing of the Children's Commissioner Michelle Scott and Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.
The review committee is expected to provide a report to the Racing and Gaming Minister Terry Waldron in September.
Source: ABC News, 22 June 2013
