Alcohol ban at Canberra Multicultural Festival went against police advice
The ACT government has conceded banning community groups from selling alcohol at this year's Multicultural Festival "wasn't the best idea", after documents obtained by the ABC revealed the decision contradicted police advice.
While authorities claimed at the time the controverisal policy came off the back of police recommendations, it appears police did not call directly for such a measure, instead raising concerns that a commercial vendor was selling cheap alcohol at the 2017 event.
The vendor, East Row IGA, was criticised by ACT Policing for "flogging alcohol", but was granted a liquor licence again this year. Instead, a new blanket ban on alcohol permits for community groups saw licences at the February festival fall from 65 to 21.
At the time, a number of groups slammed the decision, claiming they were being pushed out by commercial vendors.
In emails to the directorate released to the ABC, police did raise concerns that community groups were not required to hold responsible service of alcohol training for the festival.
But they also said they had inspected every licence at the event and found "no real problems", apart from a few stalls selling alcohol after 10:00pm.
Only three people were arrested for intoxication at the 2017 event, out of a crowd of 280,000.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Multicultural Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said she had heard community concerns about the increased commercialisation of the festival, but said the decision to ban community groups selling alcohol was made by a "small team" at the Community Services Directorate in response to feedback from "police and stakeholders".
"The [directorate] responded I think appropriately to concerns around the increased availability of alcohol on the [festival] footprint, and they did that in a way they thought would be the easiest to manage," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"They decided they could manage that issue with the IGA directly and my understanding is that issue did not arise again this year."
By the time the community raised questions about the policy in January, it was "too late" to change it, she said.
Alcohol licencing would be reviewed ahead of next year's event.
Shadows spokeswoman for multicultural affairs Elizabeth Kikkert slammed the minister's "omission of advice" from ACT Policing, claiming it had "tainted the ethos of the festival".
"The minister rammed through a policy that defied ACT Policing’s clear advice for preserving the festival’s cultural significance and the safety of festival-goers," Ms Kikkert said on Monday.
ACT Policing have been contacted for comment.
More to come.