Bev Rankin, from the Christian organisation Fusion Australia, has been invited to address today’s meeting of the Orange Liquor Accord after writing to express her concerns to the organisation made up of the city’s licensees of pubs and clubs.

Today’s Liquor Accord meeting comes a day after the Australian Hotels Association NSW director of policing and membership John Green told the Central Western Daily  he had “dropped everything” to come to Orange and discuss with late-night traders the bashing of footballer Adam Ford in the early hours of Sunday morning outside the Royal Hotel.

“What we really want to see is one of the hotels have the courage to take the lead and the others to follow instead of all standing back and saying we will do it if the others do,” Mrs Rankin said.

Mr Green said yesterday following his meeting with late-night traders he was confident they were  doing all in their power to comply with legislation.

He said the AHA’s thoughts were with Mr Ford who has undergone surgery for a critical head injury.

“Licensees have been working hard in Orange to combat alcohol-related anti-social behaviour but obviously there is also a need for people to take some personal responsibility for their own actions, because no licensee wants to see an assault in their premises,” Mr Green said.

Mrs Rankin said today’s approach to the Liquor Accord was designed to get feedback from late-night traders about the ministers’ association’s proposal to trial early closing, including a response sheet for licensees to be taken back to the association.

“We are really keen to hear their response to the idea,” Mrs Rankin said.

She said although the original proposal calling on late night traders to close early from this weekend may have “missed the boat”, there is still time for traders to trial early closing in the near future.

“We have Youth Week coming up and it would be great to think one of them [late-night traders] would say, ‘we have had a gutful’, and look at ways of closing early,” Mrs Rankin said.

However, Mr Green said early closing was not the solution to society’s drinking problems. 

He said hotels were easy picking for criticism despite 70 per cent of alcohol being consumed outside hotels.

“Hotels are the low-hanging fruit when it comes to criticism of alcohol consumption in the community,” he said.

“A person can turn up at a bottle shop with their trailer to buy a load full of cheap, packaged alcohol to take home and drink without the tight restrictions that are placed on licensees,” he said.