POLICE are not enforcing state liquor laws enacted after the notorious Leigh Leigh murder at Stockton, former gaming and racing minister Richard Face says.
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‘‘I put the laws in place,’’ Mr Face, who is the Lake Macquarie Liquor Accord spokesman, said.
Mr Face’s comments follow a Newcastle Herald report yesterday that Lake Macquarie City councillors rejected a controversial Woolworths BWS bottle shop planned at Mount Hutton.
Cr Hannah Gissane said research showed bottle shops created alcohol-related assaults that otherwise would not happen.
Cr Gissane said Woolworths’ plan was about market share, rather than demand.
Mr Face aired concerns last September that the liquor war between Coles and Woolworths was boosting the availability of cheap liquor.
Former Lake Macquarie deputy mayor Rob O’Brien, who used to part-own a pub, said Woolworths and Coles should be made to pay a 3per cent social tax on bottle shop sales.
‘‘These corporate giants make huge profits from the community’s they dominate,’’ Mr O’Brien said.
‘‘They sell alcohol at less than what their competitors can buy it for.’’
Mr Face said the supply of alcohol to a teenage birthday party on Stockton beach was a key factor leading to Leigh Leigh’s death, aged 14, in 1989.
As a result, Mr Face said he introduced new secondary supply laws that carried fines of up to $11,000 and up to 12 months’ jail.
Premier Barry O’Farrell announced last Sunday a plan that aimed to make it easier for police to target the teenage drinking culture under those laws.
Mr Face said social trends had changed dramatically in the past decade, but liquor laws had not kept up. Clubs and pubs were heavily regulated, but unlicensed restaurants with BYO and sporting clubs sold alcohol without regulatory oversight.
