Effects of a Risk-Based Licensing Scheme on the Incidence of Alcohol-Related Assault in Queensland, Australia: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation

Smriti Nepal, Kypros Kypri, John Attia, Tiffany-Jane Evans, Tanya Chikritzhs and Peter Miller
Additional contact information
Smriti Nepal: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Kypros Kypri: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
John Attia: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Tiffany-Jane Evans: Hunter Medical Research Institute, 1 Kookaburra Circuit, New Lambton Heights, NSW 2305, Australia
Tanya Chikritzhs: National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, 7 Parker Place, Building 609- Level 2, Technology Park, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
Peter Miller: School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong Waterfront Campus, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 23, 1-10

Abstract: Amid concerns about increasing alcohol-related violence in licensed premises, Queensland introduced a system of risk-based licensing (RBL) in 2009, the first of five Australian jurisdictions to do so. Under RBL, annual license fees are supposed to reflect the risk of harm associated with the outlet’s trading hours and record of compliance with liquor laws. The objective is to improve service and management practices thereby reducing patron intoxication and related problems. Using police data, we defined cases as assaults that occurred during so-called ‘high-alcohol hours’, and compared a pre-intervention period of 2004–2008 with the post-intervention period 2009–2014. We employed segmented linear regression, adjusting for year and time of assault (high vs. low alcohol hours), to model the incidence of (1) all assaults and (2) a subset that police indicated were related to drinking in licensed premises. We found a small decrease in all assaults (β = −5 per 100,000 persons/year; 95% CI: 2, 9) but no significant change in the incidence of assault attributed to drinking in licensed premises (β = −8; 95% CI: −18, 2). Accordingly, we concluded that the results do not support a hypothesis that RBL is effective in the prevention of harm from licensed premises. There may be value in trialing regulatory schemes with meaningful contingencies for non-compliance, and, in the meantime, implementing demonstrably effective strategies, such as trading hour restrictions, if the aim is to reduce alcohol-related violence.

Keywords: alcohol policy; liquor licensing; evaluation; police data; alcohol-related harm; assaults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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