The impact of Queensland's Tackling Alcohol‐Fuelled Violence Policy on nightlife and business trade

Abstract

Introduction. Key elements of the Queensland Government's Tackling Alcohol Fuelled Violence (TAFV) policy included the introduction of mandatory identification (ID) scanners and reduced trading hours for licensed venues located within Safe Night Precincts (SNP). These measures raised concerns among licensed venue owners and other key stakeholders regarding the potential negative impact of the policy on business trade and nightlife. Using multiple data sources, this paper examines the impact of the TAFV policy on nightlife and trade in three Queensland SNPs: Fortitude Valley, Surfers Paradise and Cairns. Methods. Data from ID scanners (2017-2019), foot traffic counters (2017-2019) and counts of liquor licences issued (2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019) were used to measure the policy's impact on the number of patrons and licensed venues within SNPs. Joinpoint regression and auto-regressive integrated moving average models were developed to examine changes in these measures over time. Results. No significant changes were observed in the number of ID scans over time, although Surfers Paradise showed a 0.13% reduction during high alcohol hours. Foot traffic counts from Fortitude Valley showed no significant impact of the policy on the number of patrons in the area during high-alcohol hours. The number of commercial hotel licenses increased in all three regions, and commercial other-bar licenses increased in all regions except Surfers Paradise SNP where numbers remained stable. Discussion and Conclusions. Patterns in trading and the number of patrons within SNPs were mostly stable or increasing following the implementation of the TAFV policy beyond normal fluctuations.

Patron banning policy and practice in Queensland, Australia: key informant perspectives

“…The ability to receive an immediate alert when a banned person attempts to enter a venue clearly assists the enforcement of patron bans, but there is currently limited published research exploring the effectiveness of ID scanners. A recent study by de Andrade et al (2021) examined ID scanner data from 15 SNPs in Queensland. Of the scans undertaken during the period of the study, 0.21% detected an active banning notice.…”

“…Each scanner is networked through central servers and the details of any banned person are downloaded to all venues operating a scanner within around ten minutes of the ban being imposed. The QUANTEM project undertook an evaluation of the TAFV policy in 15 SNPs (Miller et al 2017(Miller et al , 2019, and findings have been reported within a range of papers (Carah et al 2021;Ferris et al 2021;Miller et al 2021b;Taylor et al 2019).…”

“…Many larger venues outside SNPs also operate ID scanners. Queensland was the first Australian jurisdiction to enforce patron bans by linking the banned patron registry with ID scanner technology (de Andrade et al 2021;Miller et al 2019).…”

How public health teams navigate their different roles in alcohol premises licensing: ExILEnS multistakeholder interview findings

“…39 The number of people entering licensed venues and moving through night-time precincts remained stable, and in some areas a greater diversification of entertainment offerings was observed. 40,41 This highlights the importance of documenting impacts beyond assaults and injuries, for example including impacts on nightlife and trade, in future studies.…”

Addressing alcohol-related harms in the local night-time economy: a qualitative process evaluation from a complex systems perspective

“…The Queensland Alcohol-related violence and Night-Time Economy (QUANTEM) project provides an example of how such a study could be conducted, using multiple data sources to measure impacts on alcohol-related health and social harms and local economies. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Furthermore, the ExILEnS study and research stemming from the NIHR School for Public Health Research alcohol programme demonstrate how impacts of local alcohol policies have been evaluated in UK contexts. 13 15 16 25 A well-theorised, robust impact evaluation of the LNL is overdue.…”