HOME TRUTHS: Head of the Orange Liquor Accord Bill Kelly says binge- drinking at homes and at parties is overtaking incidents in licensed premises.
HEAD of Orange’s Liquor Accord Bill Kelly says it is the over- consumption of alcohol at parties and in domestic situations which is taking a far greater toll on the community than drinking in licensed premises.
“Ask any licensee or club secretary in Orange and they will tell you the same thing,” he told the Central Western Daily.
Mr Kelly has rejected the suggestion by a young person quoted in the Central Western Daily recently they spent $400 a night on alcohol in one of the city’s licensed venues.
“Think about it - that means they would have to be served 40 standard drinks in three hours to spend that kind of money.
“They might spend that much but I am sure it would be on pokies, pills and some alcohol,” he said.
Mr Kelly said the major challenge facing the Orange Liquor Accord made up of licensees is late night trading by three hotels in the central business district.
“Trading into the early hours of the morning is a notoriously difficult in many ways and I would never consider it for my hotel in a million years,” he said.
He said the city’s late traders have many issues to contend with including paying security guards thousands of dollars over a weekend.
The changes implemented by the NSW state government in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics he says were intended to cater for visitors across the state.
“Late trading was only supposed to be in for a limited period but somehow it has just stayed on,” he said.
Mr Kelly said minimising the impact on the community of late night trading will be high on the agenda at the annual general meeting of the Orange Liquor Accord to be held in the near future.
“We need to keep trying to do our best on this issue,” he said.
“I have a son who is a police officer and another who is a paramedic, so I am very well aware of all the issues our society is facing in relation to the over consumption of alcohol,” he said .