Licensing NT Newsletter: November 2024

Licensees are reminded to lodge applications for Christmas trading or specific events over the festive season at least 30 days prior to the event date or a late fee may apply.

Licensees are also reminded that trading on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day invokes different operating hours. The following authorities have legislated changes to their hours of operation:

For Club, Public Bar, Restaurant and Restaurant Bar authorities:

• The hours of operation on Christmas Day are from 11:00 to 21:00, if purchased with a full meal.

For BYO, Restaurant, Club, Restaurant Bar, Public Bar and Small Bar authorities

• The hours of operation on New Year’s Day are from 00:00 to 02:00.

The operational hours for late night and extended late night, on New Year's Day can be extended by an extra hour.

• A late-night authority can be extended to 03:00am and extended late night authority can be extended to 05:00am.
• Lock out timing is not altered with the extension of time.

You must notify the Director of Liquor Licensing by the 3^rd of December each year for the additional hour.

If you have a different authority, check your liquor licence for your permitted hours of trade.

Further information and notification forms can be found on the page for Public Holiday and Sunday Takeaway Trading.

Notifications can be made via email to: DirectorLiquorLicensing.DTH@nt.gov.au.

Welcome to Ian Ford who has recently joined Licensing NT as the Senior Director of Racing and Gaming. Ian brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge from previous compliance and leadership roles from departments including Territory Families, Housing and Communities, and the Department of Sport and Recreation.

Ian has shared that he is looking forward to supporting the Community Benefit Fund, Gambling Systems, Gambling and Racing, and Gaming teams in partnership with the whole of the sector to continue their excellent efforts in providing service to their licensees and stakeholders.

We are very excited to have him with us! Please make him feel welcome as you come across him in his duties.

As many staff at licensed premises know, some jurisdictions have introduced digitalised drivers’ licences. These ID’s are accessed via an app on smartphones, provided by the issuing jurisdiction of the licence. These forms of ID are approved for the purpose of buying takeaway alcohol however, they do not scan on the Banned Drinker Register (BDR).

Staff are still required to check the authenticity of the ID and credentials through the app on the smartphone and manually enter the details to check if the person is on the BDR. A photo of an ID on a device is not considered an approved form of a digital ID.

The following jurisdictions are currently issuing digitalised drivers licenses:

• South Australia
• New South Wales
• Victoria
• Queensland

Hard copies of driver’s licences are still being issued in NT and will scan as normal on the BDR.

As a reminder, the licensee must notify the Director of the employment or cessation of a Gaming Machine Manager. Notifications can be emailed to GamingMachineAct.DTH@nt.gov.au.

Audits have commenced for gaming machine licensed venues and so far, the results have been excellent. The outcome of the completed audits indicate that Licensing NT and licensees can, and will continue to, work together to ensure that venues operate their gaming areas with integrity and fairness, and are accountable for their operation.

For those that have not had the chance to meet our inspectors yet, they will get in touch prior to their audit of your venue to help ensure that you understand how the process works.

The role of Gaming Machine Manager plays a significant role in the operation of a gaming machine venue and it is recommended that that those individuals staffed to these positions read Regulation 7 of the Gaming Machine Regulations 1995 as it prescribes the duties of gaming machine managers and should be familiar to all licence nominees.

If you have any questions, you can contact out Gambling Systems team at GamingMachineAct.DTH@nt.gov.au .

Licensing NT has reviewed, amended, and updated the gaming machine licensee form.

The form has been simplified to allow a licensee to apply to: increase/decrease/move their approved gaming area; dispose of gaming machines; and, have an area approved for the storage of gaming machines.

The new form is titled ‘Gaming Machine Application for Licensee’ DOCX (74.9 KB) and available on the Gambling and Racing website.

Body Worn Cameras (BWCs) are being made operational for inspectors to use during high-risk major events and official duties.

BWCs are an effective tool in maintaining transparency and public safety and can be used to ensure best practice is being observed.

Inspectors using a BWC will notify members of the public and licensees of the recording prior to the interaction. If you have concerns at the time of the recording, please advise the inspector so they can plan accordingly.

If you have questions regarding the use of the BWCs please feel free to contact the compliance team at LiquorCompliance.DTH@nt.gov.au .

A friendly reminder from our liquor compliance team to ensure that your Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) documentation is up to date.

This includes ensuring all staff, who have a certificate that is more than 3 years old, have completed the Hospitality NT RSA Refresher Test.

Please remember to record your employees RSA information in the appropriate register PDF (140.6 KB).

Below is a list of disciplinary matters from June to November 2024.