The pilot program Behave or Be Banned was adopted by eight licensed venues in Forbes earlier this month and means if a patron causes serious trouble in one venue they are banned from all venues for six months. 

Orange Liquor Accord chairman Bill Kelly said a sub-committee was investigating adopting the policy, but there could be privacy issues.

However, Mr Clifton said the Forbes program had resolved any privacy problems with legal advice and help from the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing. 

Once a patron is banned, their name goes to a panel of people, who discuss the merits of the banning  before passing their name on to police.

The panel, the licensees and the police are the only people who know who the troublemaker is.

“As soon as I ban someone from my pub I speed text the other venues and the police,” Mr Clifton said.

“It’s working as a deterrent rather than a punishment.”

So far, only one patron has been banned from all eight venues in Forbes.

Forbes Shire Council general manager Brian Steffen said the policy required all the late-night traders to get along to be effective.

“Absolutely, there is no reason it can’t work anywhere else, but it’s the cooperation of venue operators that makes this work so well,” he said. 

Mr Kelly said the Orange Liquor Accord had organised to meet a representative from the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing last week to discuss how to implement the policy, but the representative had to reschedule.

“It’s just one of the things that’s going on at the moment,” Mr Kelly said.

“The late night traders are investigating a scanning system and one of the other initiatives is sending representatives to Newcastle,”

Mr Kelly said the late-night traders in Orange were still formulating their response to the Ministers’ Fraternal’s request to trial a midnight shutdown of pubs. 

“Things have tightened up a lot and there are a lot of things the committee is working on,” he said.

nicole.kuter@fairfaxmedia.com.au