By Andrew Starke
New benchmarks have been set for Melbourne’s bars, clubs and restaurants with the Melbourne Licensees Forum and council releasing a central set of guidelines for licensed venues.
The joint initiative from the City of Melbourne, Victoria Police, Responsible Alcohol Victoria and licensees, the Venue Compliance Essentials is a comprehensive guide for licensees to ensure they are complying with their liquor licensing conditions.
The resource is divided into two sections focusing on compliance and people safety and includes guidelines, templates and protocols on how to run a successful and safe business.
The Venue Compliance Essentials aims to assist licensees in understanding their responsibilities and the impact of alcohol use and misuse, encourage the development of policies and protocols to manage these demands and provide a central point of reference for all required venue and liquor licensing documents.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the document should be the first point of reference for all venue owners and employees.
“Melbourne is known for its bars, clubs and historic pubs and we want to ensure they maintain a high standard,” he said.
”The responsible service and consumption of alcohol is a key part of this and I’m pleased to see licensees working collectively to enhance the industry’s reputation.”
Daniel Russian, Eve nightclub owner, said the guide ‘is a great example of proactive work by Melbourne Licensees to provide safer venues for their clientele and staff’ and would be used widely amongst owners and employees.
Director of Liquor Licensing Mark Brennan encouraged licensees to make use of the guidelines to help improve their businesses.
“Being better educated about liquor regulation is a key means to improving performance, it is my hope that licensees will improve the decisions they make in running their businesses and in turn, improve their compliance with liquor regulation,” he said.
Victoria Police Superintendent Rod Wilson said the guide was another initiative to keep Melbourne safe and liveable.
"The vast majority of our licensees take their obligations very seriously, and this guide will help them to demonstrate that. It's great to see another example of people working together to keep Melbourne one of the most liveable cities in the world," Supt Wilson said
The Venue Compliance Essentials is presently being distributed to 550 late night venues within the City of Melbourne.