Minister Grant Media Release – Statewide Rollout Of Tool To Help Liquor Licencing Decisions

The Environment and Venue Assessment Tool (EVAT) which helps assess the risk of adverse social outcomes posed by liquor licence applications will be rolled out state-wide following a successful trial in Sydney and Newcastle.

Minister for Hospitality Troy Grant today said a 12-month trial and evaluation of EVAT found it provided a sharper focus on risk-based assessments and improved certainty and consistency in the assessment process.

“The NSW Liberals & Nationals are delivering modern best practice tools to inform liquor licence decision making, ensuring the community and industry know where they stand and can have confidence in the integrity of the process,” Mr Grant said.

“EVAT has been found to assist the assessment of liquor licence applications and help improve decision-making and will now be rolled out across NSW.

“All liquor licence applications in NSW are determined by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA).

“By law ILGA cannot grant an approval unless satisfied the overall social impact will not be detrimental to community well-being or if it is not in the public interest.

“As part of the application process, the Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing (OLGR) provides advice on applications that are considered of potential risk to the community.

“Improvements will be made to EVAT by OLGR as recommended by the trial evaluation to enable it to more broadly inform advice provided to the independent decision maker.

“OLGR will consult with local councils and other relevant stakeholders to obtain the necessary data needed to allow the tool to be rolled out to LGAs across the state.

“EVAT risk data will be updated on a regular basis and monitoring of the tool will be ongoing to ensure the tool improves in usefulness over time.

“The NSW Liberals & Nationals are delivering modern alcohol policy in NSW that balances individual, industry and community responsibilities,” Mr Grant said.