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Steps and processes for lodging an application.
Subject to section 25 of the Liquor Control Act 1988, an interested person who is dissatisfied with a decision of the Director of Liquor Licensing may apply to the Liquor Commission for a review of that decision. An application for a review must be made within a month of receiving the written reasons for the decision (or such longer period as the commission may allow).
Refer to Rule 5 of the Liquor Commission Rules 2007 — Western Australian Legislation.
Once the commission receives your application, all interested persons (i.e., any person who was a party to the proceedings before the Director of Liquor Licensing) will be notified whether:
A directions hearing, if required, is usually held on the earliest available dates of the parties to determine preliminary matters before the final hearing. All interested persons are informed of the date, time and hearing room number.
At the directions hearing, directions may be given on the management of the progress of the matter, and lodgement of submissions.
Although the commission endeavours to hear applications as expeditiously as possible, the hearings are scheduled depending on the availability of the commissioners and all interested persons.
Any person involved in a hearing may be represented by a lawyer or other relevant person (see below).
The commission is a review body. Pursuant to section 16 of the Act, it is required to act without undue formality. The Act does not require applicants to lodge grounds for any review sought. However, the commission considers that it is in the interests of the applicant to do so in order to direct the commission’s attention to those areas which have given rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction with the decision of the Director of Liquor Licensing.
In view of the review function of the commission, it is neither necessary nor desirable to assert an error by the Director. The commission is required to review only that material that was before the Director in arriving at their decision and is then required to decide on the basis of this material, whether a different decision should, in its opinion, have been reached.
An interested person may appear personally, or by counsel, or by any other person approved by the commission.
If an interested person is a member of an association which the licensing authority recognises as having been formed to promote or protect the interests of a section of the liquor industry, or of employees in the liquor industry, then that person may be represented by an officer or employee of that association.
If the interested person is a body corporate, then an officer or employee of the body corporate can appear on its behalf provided he or she has obtained leave of the commission to do so.
The Commissioner of Police may be represented before the commission by a member of the Police Force, and where a member of the Police Force purports in any proceedings to represent the Commissioner of Police that person shall be deemed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have been authorised by the Commissioner of Police so to do.
Before the final/directions hearing, the parties will usually be afforded an opportunity to lodge written submissions relevant to the grounds for review sought in the review application.
Ordinarily these submissions are required to be lodged 2 weeks prior to the hearing. Parties to the proceeding are thereafter afforded 7 days to lodge their responsive submissions.
For example: if a hearing is listed to be heard on 15 January 2009, the parties to the proceeding will be required to lodge their submissions by close of business 1 January 2009. Responsive submissions will be required to be submitted by close of business 8 January 2009. No further submissions will be accepted for lodgement a week prior to the hearing.
The commission expects submission deadlines to be met, in the interests of fairness to all parties to the matter and in order for the commission to discharge its responsibilities under section 16 of the Act properly. The commission has discretion in deciding whether to accept late submissions.
Section 25(2c) of the Liquor Control Act 1988 (the Act) provides that when conducting a review of the decision made by the Director of Liquor Licensing, the commission may have regard only to the material that was before the Director when making the decision. At the time of referring this material to the commission, the Director approves all the material he had regard to at the time of making his determination. It is therefore not the commission’s responsibility to ensure that all the material that was before the Director was actually made available to interested persons when the matter was being considered by him.
However, in accordance with the provisions of section 16(11) of the Act, and Rule 14 of the Liquor Commission Rules 2007, the commission seeks to ensure that interested persons are given a reasonable opportunity to present their case and, in particular, to inspect any documents to which they propose to have regard in making a determination in the proceedings and to make submissions in relation to those documents.
The commission in doing so has regard to Rule 14 of the Liquor Commission Rules 2007 (the Rules)
In the majority of cases, a Liquor Commission hearing is held at the State Administrative Tribunal. It is recommended that all parties intending to be present at the hearing arrive no less than 15 minutes prior to the commencement of the hearing. Upon commencement of the hearing, the applicant will be invited to present oral submissions. All other parties are then given an opportunity to make submissions in response. The applicant is then afforded the opportunity to reply to these submissions. In accordance with section 16(1)(a) of the Act, the commission is required to act without undue formality. At the hearing, the commissioner’s may interject or ask questions during the delivery of submissions, or may seek clarification from another interested person.
The Tribunal's hearing room is equipped with audio visual facilities, however an interested person should contact the commission at least one week prior the hearing should they wish to use any of the equipment. This allows the commission to ensure that the equipment is in working order prior to the hearing.
At the end of the final hearing, the commission will deliberate on the submissions made in the matter.
The decision may be handed down immediately following the hearing or the commission may reserve its decision, to be delivered at a later stage.
The commission gives reasons for all its final decision.