Regulation Review - IPART - NSW Government

3 Identifying reform opportunities
The PC reports that businesses are better able to determine the viability of
proposed licensed premises if they have clear information about likely
operational requirements at the project inception stage. It consequently notes
that some councils (eg, Byron Shire Council) have a clear and publicly available
policy indicating the development conditions they will place on approvals for
licensed premises and the criteria they have for supporting a liquor licence
application to the relevant state regulator.
The PC also states that prospective liquor licence applicants would benefit from
state licensing regulators providing explicit advice to them on the approvals that
they need to get from local government. 73
Liquor licensing can also be a contentious area of regulation for the community.
This is currently evident in relation to licensed premises in Kings Cross, Sydney.
Food Safety
Governments at all levels have invested significant resources in improving food
safety regulation throughout Australia. While the divergent approaches
implemented in different states or by individual councils impacts on the goal of
nationally consistent food safety regulation, the variation provides a wealth of
opportunities for identifying leading practices. The range of approaches include:
Excluding businesses selling only negligible risk food from food safety
regulation and enforcement (Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia).
Using risk and compliance history information to improve regulation of food
businesses (used by a number of local governments in Australia).
Using standardised forms (NSW Food Authority).
Enhancing public transparency, through:
– easily accessible information explaining the basis for policies and especially
the reasons for differential treatment (NSW Food Authority)
– publishing information on regulatory activities (fees and charges,
frequency of inspections, etc) and the results of compliance activities (New
South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia report on
some items, while some local governments provide all such information).
Precluding the need for multiple registrations – Victoria, Queensland and
Western Australia enable mobile food vendors who operate in multiple local
government areas to be registered once. There is concern that some councils
across Australia can require a single food business such as a supermarket,
which has multiple departments (eg, bakery, deli, butcher and seafood
departments), to register individual departments as separate food businesses.
An approach similar to that used for mobile food vendors could be warranted
to clarify what should be considered a single food business and what should
be considered separate.
73 Ibid, p 383.
46 IPART Regulation Review