Brian Bauer
Acting Executive Director, OLGR
p: 13 QGOV (13 74 68)
Support for flood-affected clubs
It’s been a challenging few months for some north Queensland people who have had their businesses or homes damaged by floodwater. If your club has been impacted, be assured the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) compliance officers will exercise discretion during any visits or inspections.
Applying for temporary approval to trade from another area
You may be able to apply for a temporary authority. This will allow you to use another part of the venue, or other premises to continue trading if your venue has been destroyed or damaged.
Waiving of application fees
OLGR is waiving application fees for flood-impacted licensees until 30 June 2019 as many may need to seek approvals and authorities to reinstate their premises. After this date, the waiving of application fees for flood-affected licensees will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Monthly gaming tax
Gaming machine tax collection is due on the 10th of each month (or the next business day if that date is on a weekend or a public holiday). If you have concerns regarding upcoming monthly gaming tax collections, please contact OLGR Finance on (07) 3872 0860 or email: olgrfinance@justice.qld.gov.au.
Compliance concerns and replacing official documents
Compliance officers will exercise discretion during any visits and inspections of licensed venues affected by the floods.
If you notice that your licence or permit documentation has been destroyed or misplaced, our licensing team can arrange for these to be replaced. Other items that may have been damaged or destroyed include:
- RSA/RSG/RMLV certificates
- incident registers
- risk-assessed management plans (RAMP)
- exclusion plans
- gaming machine records; and
- internal and external signage.
We understand these may take some time to replace and if you are concerned you are unable to meet your legislative compliance requirements please contact us as soon as practical.
Further information for licensees impacted by floods in northern Queensland is available on the Business Queensland website at
www.business.qld.gov.au
Liquor licence fees reduced for very remote clubs
Clubs in very remote Queensland will have their base licence fees reduced under a Bill passed by the Queensland Parliament on 26 February.
From 1 July 2019, small clubs with 2,000 members or less will be eligible for a concessional fee if their venue is located in a very remote area of Queensland as classified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This recognises the unique role and vital services small clubs provide, that often go well beyond what is normally associated with these venues given their isolation and limited access to service centres.
Affected venues don’t have to do anything as the new fee structure will be reflected in their annual liquor licence fee statement sent out at the end of June.
New ID cards released
The Queensland Government has made changes to Queensland licence and adult proof of age cards so, from April 2019, you may start to see some patrons using these new-look IDs at your venue.
Here’s what you need to know about these changes:
- The Adult Proof of Age card is now called the Photo Identification Card (PIC).
- People from 15 years or over are eligible for a PIC. This means you can no longer assume the person presenting this type of ID to you is 18 years or over.
- Minor changes will be made to Queensland licences to improve their readability and update some security features. Patrons will start to present these new cards from June 2019.
View more information about these changes at
www.qld.gov.au/transport/licensing/proof-of-age
The Adult Proof-of-Age card will continue to be an acceptable form of ID, until the expiry date shown on the card.
If you operate a regulated ID scanner at your venue, your approved operator has been provided with a sample of the new ID to ensure they are compatible with their system.
Club Awards and AHG Expo 2019 wrap-up
Congratulations to Cowboys Leagues Club and Carina Leagues Club who took out the Queensland Government sponsored awards at the Keno and Clubs Queensland Awards for Excellence held in March.
Cowboys Leagues Club took out the Special Achievement Award - Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) for taking ownership of RSA and approaching it with a well-rounded strategy, exceeding the government’s code of conduct.
Carina Leagues Club won the Special Achievement Award - Responsible Gambling for creating a safe, supportive environment for gaming patrons and demonstrating excellence in the areas of community liaison, staff training and the implementation of responsible gaming initiatives.
It goes without saying that the responsible management of gaming and service of alcohol are critically important, so these awards are for clubs that excel. Congratulations.
The annual Australasian Hospitality and Gaming Expo held in Brisbane in March was a great success. Once again it was a good opportunity for OLGR staff to connect face-to-face with industry representatives over the two-day event and gain insight into their concerns and needs.
We hope those who stopped by our stand to chat with licensing and compliance staff came away with the information they needed.
Your correct contact details are important
In June you will receive an assessment notice for your annual liquor licence fees, so it is important that we have your correct contact details.
Please check and update your details (including your postal and email addresses) as soon as possible. You can log in to the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR) Client portal (
https://secure.olgr.qld.gov.au/portal) which is a secure online self-service system that allows you to:
- pay annual liquor licence fees
- view licence information and update contact details
- apply and pay for the following temporary changes to your licence: extended trading hours (liquor and gaming), change in licensed area (liquor), variation of licence conditions (liquor)
- view your applications.
If you haven’t activated your OLGR Client Portal account, you must register as a new user. You will need your 8-letter access key that was provided to you in your approval letter or your previous annual licence fee summary.
Alternatively, you can update your details by simply emailing OLGR’s licensing branch at
OLGRlicensing@justice.qld.gov.au