By Annette Shailer
The Queensland Government is considering appealing against a Supreme Court decision in October to overturn a glass ban on a Townsville hotel.
The Mad Cow Tavern was one of eight venues in Queensland classified as ‘high risk’ by the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation in March and ordered to remove all glass.
Since March the ‘high risk’ classification has been imposed on premises that have recorded an ''unacceptable level of violence'' in the previous 12 months or one or more glassing attacks.
The landmark ruling saw Supreme Court Judge Margaret Wilson decide that the classification amounted to a denial of natural justice for the hotel and awarded costs against the Government.
Chalk Hotel general manager, Jason Titman, said that the case shows the danger of the ‘high risk’ classification as the chief executive made his decision to classify the venue as ‘high risk’ without even discussing or disclosing to the venue the information upon which he was relying upon to make his decision.
“Yet again in Queensland we have seen another Court case of ‘high risk’ classification against a venue thrown out by the Courts because improper process was followed by the chief executive,” he said.
“It was not good enough that the Queensland Government took away the industry’s right of appeal through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and forced all operators to go to the Supreme Court if they wished to challenge the new ‘high risk’ legislation but they have now been found to be making decisions by withholding information to licensees.”
Other Queensland venues that are considered ‘high risk’ and given a total glass ban, include Townsville’s The Bank Niteclub, Brisbane’s Alexandra Hills Hotel, Cocktails and Dreams in Surfers Paradise, and Rockhampton's The Stadium.
Six of the eight venues classified as ‘high risk’ have been slapped with a total glass ban, which stipulates that venues are not allowed to serve wine in bottles, sell stubbies or use any other glassware.
Titman addresses this issue in the December edition of Australian Hotelier Magazine.
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