THE ready availability of alcohol from bottle shops in the Cessnock area is at such a level that a single bottle shop opening at Kurri Kurri would leave the area at high risk of disturbing increases in assaults, a tribunal has found.
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The Cessnock area risked a “sharp upward turn” in assaults, and particularly domestic assaults, if a bottle shop was approved 900 metres north of Kurri Kurri’s town centre in an area that already experienced “concerning levels of alcohol-related harm”, crime analysis presented to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found.
The tribunal backed the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority’s rejection of the bottle shop after accepting NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research analysis showing it would tip the Cessnock area over a statistical level at which domestic assaults “increase sharply”.
Cessnock has 57 bottle shops for 55,560 people by August, 2017, giving a concentration of 1.02 per 1000 population, the tribunal was told.
“If one more packaged liquor outlet is added the concentration would increase to 1.04 per 1000 of population. That is above the point at which BOCSAR’s research suggests that the rate of domestic assaults starts to increase sharply and the rate of non-domestic assaults starts to increase less sharply,” tribunal deputy president Nancy Hennessy found.
“The overall social impact of granting the licence is negative and will be detrimental to the well-being of the residents of Kurri Kurri and the broader community.”
If one more packaged liquor outlet is added the concentration would increase to 1.04 per 1000 of population. That is above the point at which BOCSAR’s research suggests that the rate of domestic assaults starts to increase sharply.
- NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal deputy president Nancy Hennessy.
BOCSAR figures showed Cessnock already had a “very high crime rate for domestic violence”, was ranked in the lowest 20 per cent of the state for social disadvantage and had “problematic” health data, including a “much higher” than the state average rate of alcohol-related deaths. Kurri Kurri is ranked in the lowest 10 per cent for social disadvantage.
The BOCSAR findings “are objective facts from which the inference can be drawn that granting the licence is likely to lead to an increase in the rate of assaults in Kurri Kurri,” Ms Hennessy found.
“That is a significant negative social impact.”
Ms Hennessy backed the Liquor Authority’s refusal despite the bottle shop proponent, who first applied to open the outlet in 2014, reducing the size of the proposal and restricting the type of liquor to be sold.
The Liquor Authority found it likely “that any liquor that were to be sold or supplied… would contribute to the prevailing concerning levels of alcohol-related harm being experienced in those communities”.
The bottle shop proponent disagreed and appealed to the tribunal.
Ms Hennessy noted the bottle shop was backed by Marli Accommodation Services at Cessnock. The Liquor Authority found the support was based “at least in part on the fact the bottle shop proponent donated $10,000 to the women’s shelter run by Marli to upgrade the building”.
The proponent offered an additional $20,000 to maintain the shelter if the bottle shop application was granted.
NSW Police Force and Cessnock City Council did not object to the bottle shop, but there was “significant community opposition” from the Indigenous Barkuma Neighbourhood Centre. BOCSAR analysis showed the rate of domestic violence increases with the percentage of the population who are Indigenous, the percentage of males aged 15-34 and the level of socio-economic disadvantage.
The Liquor Authority considered 2016 Census figures showing 7.2 per cent of Cessnock’s population, and 7.6 per cent of Kurri Kurri’s is Indigenous, compared with the national average of 2.8 per cent.
“The Authority submitted this was a ‘risk factor’ because a high Aboriginal population leads to health harms,” Ms Hennessy noted.
A comparison of 2016 and 2017 alcohol-related assault figures showed Kurri Kurri’s general assault rate was unchanged and declined for domestic assaults.
But the rate of domestic violence assaults for Cessnock local government area increased from 186.7 to 190.3 per 100,000 people. The figure is well above the rate for NSW of 114.4 domestic violence incidents per 100,000 people.
NSW Health figures showed Cessnock local government area residents are being hospitalised for alcohol-related health problems at a lower than the state average rate.
“However, residents are dying from alcohol-related health problems at a much higher than average rate,” Ms Hennessy noted.
