QHA Review August 2017

NEWS
WELCOME TO
SERIOUS CONCERNS WITH MANDATORY ID
SCANNING REMAIN
The Queensland Government’s 1 July implementation
of mandatory ID scanning in Safe Night Precincts
(SNPs) for licensees trading after 12am is an illconceived
plan that won’t achieve its desired
outcomes and only places a hefty financial burden
on hoteliers, according to a growing number of vocal
industry insiders.
Several hoteliers in Brisbane SNPs approached by the
Australian Hotelier, expressed serious concerns about
the impact of the policy.
Nick Kalaf, who owns of the Criterion Tavern, said
ID scanning would interfere with the flexibility of his
venue’s trading hours and impose costs.
“Most of the time we don’t pre-determine what time
we shut … we allow the business and turnover to
make that conclusion on any given night,” he said.
“Now we need to factor in the possibility of 10.30pm
closes and the potential of having a security guard
present in the venue to man the ID scanner. Security
companies charge a minimum of four hours and only
licensed security are allowed to man or supervise ID
scanners.”
For Fritzenberger Director Andrew Jeffreys the only
option was to give up late night trading.
“To avoid the unaffordable operational costs of ID
scanning we have surrendered our late-night trading
license and scaled back to midnight from 1 July.
General manager of the Caxton Hotel Alex Farquhar
said that although his venue won’t be adjusting its
trading hours, the implementation of ID scanning was
“nothing short of a nightmare”.
“It is an ill-conceived policy that has been hastily
rushed through by ill-motivated bureaucrats, to the
detriment of the entire hospitality industry
of Queensland.”
In a minor win for the industry, the Government
consented to a slight relaxing of the rules in the
Caxton Street SNP on the night of the Origin decider
at Suncorp Stadium.
Attorney General Yvette D’Ath said the decision came
after the OLGR consulted with police who had public
order concerns with the large crowds and who said
starting scanning at 11pm rather than 10pm would
alleviate pedestrian congestion.
Queues outside venues in the Surfers Paradise
SNP since ID scanning was introduced.
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