Earlier today, we reported on a submission made to judge Ian Callinan’s review into Sydney’s controversial lockout laws made by the World Bar. In the submission, the owners of the venue detailed just what kind of financial impact the lockout laws have had on their business.
According to the World Bar’s own balance sheet, management are forking out an extra $224,900 per year. But as FasterLouder note, also sitting amongst the 1,800 submissions from publicans and industry stakeholders is a plan by former Annandale owner Matt Rule for what he’s dubbed a ‘drinking licence’.
Essentially, Rule would like to see drinking treated like operating a motor vehicle. As it currently stands, as soon as you turn 18, the government considers you ready to drink. As long as you can prove your age to a retailer, you can buy and consume alcohol.
Instead, Rule would like to see the government introduce a $50-per-year drinking licence that would come with similar stipulations to a vehicle licence, such as an exam on responsible drinking. Prospective drinkers would effectively have to get an RSA before legally consuming alcohol.
In his proposal, Rule argues that a drinking licence would allow the government to educate drinkers about alcohol consumption and what is expected of someone society and the government deems responsible enough to buy and consume alcohol.
Much like a driver’s licence, it would also come with the same consequences for irresponsible and dangerous behaviour. If you breach the rules multiple times or commit an offence serious enough, you will have your drinking licence taken away.
Of course, one has to consider the costs of such an infrastructure. How would we police the licences? Would we have licence scanners in each venue? Would bartenders have to see your licence before they serve you?
The idea of a drinking licence is certainly radical and does pose several problems, such as the troubles of enforcing such a policy. After all, those under 18 aren’t legally allowed to have alcohol, and yet they’re inevitably able to get their hands on it.
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And therein lies the issue. As many have noted, a large majority of Australians learnt their drinking habits before they were even old enough to drink. “I don’t know where you had your first drink but mine was in a tree house with a stolen bottle of rum,” Art Vs Science’s Dan McNamee told Tone Deaf.
“And for the first few years of my drinking career it was always in a dark park, away from adults and drinking as much as I could as quickly as I could.” Would teaching 18-year-olds with already ingrained drinking habits simply make it a bureaucratic hurdle for them to jump over in order to drink?
From the moment you get behind the wheel, you’re sitting beside a fully licensed driver tasked with teaching you safe and responsible use of a car. Unlike driving, drinking is often a “self-taught” exercise that begins long before one is legally allowed to do it.
