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Clubs, Liquor & Gaming Machines legislation passed by Parliament

The Clubs, Liquor, and Gaming Machines Legislation Amendment Act 2011 was passed by the NSW Parliament on 22 November 2011. The Act represents the second stage of reforms flowing from the Government’s Strong Clubs, Stronger Communities Memorandum of Understanding with the club industry. The Act also contains a range of liquor law and gaming machine reforms. These reforms will commence progressively in consultation with industry.

The following summaries the reforms in the Act.

Club amalgamations and de-amalgamations

The reforms:

remove forfeiture requirements for poker machine entitlement transfers between amalgamated clubs situated in different local government areas;
enable a club liquor licence to be transferred to another club following a de-amalgamation;
enable a parent club to sell core property by private treaty to another club involved in a de-amalgamation;
exempt de-amalgamating clubs from local impact assessment and forfeiture requirements for poker machine entitlements transfers; and
ensure amalgamation requirements can be met where a dissolved club that proposes to de-amalgamate wishes to immediately amalgamate with another club.

These reforms commenced on 30 March 2012.

Club corporate governance, viability and sustainability

The reforms will:

facilitate the establishment of a mandatory club director and manager training framework;
limit club boards to a maximum of nine members;
allow controls to be applied to voting eligibility for classes of members (if required);
allow the 'core features' of a club to be defined (if required);
provide for the limited appointment of directors by club boards (if required); and
facilitate mandatory three year rolling elections (if required).

These reforms contain a number of regulation making powers, including the introduction of mandatory club director and manager training. The mandatory training framework is to be prescribed in regulations and will be progressively introduced later in 2012 in consultation with the club industry and registered training organisations.

Reforms to limit the size of club boards to no more than nine directors will be progressively introduced from the second half of 2012. This will include developing transitional arrangements with the club sector to take account of existing club board sizes, including amalgamated clubs and other clubs that currently have more than nine directors. This reform also complements reforms which seek voluntary action by industry to introduce three year rolling elections.

The remaining corporate governance reforms, outlined above, provide a range of reserve powers to make regulations that will only be introduced if required. The Government and club industry representatives will be encouraging and supporting clubs to address governance issues voluntarily, thereby avoiding the need for further regulation. Should further regulation be necessary in future, there will be consultation with industry prior to the introduction of any new governance requirements.

Miscellaneous club reforms

These include measures to prevent clubs and their assets from falling into the hands of private interests and entrepreneurs; introduction of a defence provision for club managers where reasonable steps are taken to comply with certain liquor laws; and removal or the ability of the regulator to hold royal commission style investigations into clubs under section 41x of the Registered Clubs Act. The reforms dealing with private interests in clubs commenced on 30 March 2012, while the other miscellaneous reforms commenced on 28 November 2011.

Reciprocal rights for RSL members

The amendments enable RSL and kindred clubs to permit current serving and ex-service defence force personnel entry to their clubs as honorary members without the need to sign into the club. This reform commenced on 28 November 2011.

Other miscellaneous reforms

The package of reforms also addresses the following liquor and gaming-related issues:

Allow hoteliers to cease liquor operations during their approved trading hours but continue to provide other services, such as non-alcoholic beverages, food, entertainment, gambling activities and conference facilities. This reform helps to de-coupling liquor and gaming to address concerns about gamblers playing under the influence of alcohol, as well as potentially limiting late night alcohol sales in hotels that operate gaming machines. It will also allow hotels to open for breakfast or provide other non-gambling services without the need to sell liquor. Supporting measures will also be implemented to ensure that the impact of gaming is addressed in a Community Impact Statement. These reforms commenced on 30 March 2012.
Allow directions to be given to a licensed caterer relating to the use of a ‘sale on other premises authorisation’ to protect the integrity of the liquor laws and prevent significant negative impact on the local community. This reform commenced on 28 November 2011.
Strengthen controls relating to ‘gift’ sales of liquor by unlicensed businesses by limiting delivery hours to 7am to 7pm (recognising that there may be unexpected delays in delivery), requiring that the vendor must market a genuine ‘gift’ service, and requiring the ‘gift’ to be packaged and presented as a genuine ‘gift’. This reform commenced on 28 November 2011.
Strengthen and clarify gaming machine threshold requirements by requiring a hotel’s gaming machine threshold to reduce when transferring permits. At the same time, hotels will also be able to transfer permits within a local government area without having to undergo a local impact assessment (LIA). This change reinstates the exemption from the LIA requirements which was previously removed because of a legislative gap. These reforms commenced on 30 March 2012.

Other miscellaneous reforms

Amendments have also changed the name of the Casino, Liquor and Gaming Control Authority to the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority. This reform commenced on 1 March 2012. Another reform enables the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority to impose conditions on a liquor licence to reduce trading hours (and validate any previous decisions of this kind). This reform commenced on 28 November 2011.

Further information will be provided about these reforms as they are progressively implemented in consultation with industry.

Clubs, Liquor and Gaming Machines Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 as passed – (PDF 442kb)

Agreement in principle speech (PDF 33KB) given by the Hon George Souris MP, Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing, and Minister for the Arts. The agreement in principle speech provides a detailed explanation of the new laws.

Media Release - Second phase of club initiatives passes parliament (PDF 77kb)

A range of club, liquor and gaming machine reforms commenced on 30 March 2012. Find out more >