What is Liquor & Gaming LiveData?

LiveData is an online tool that allows you to search and generate a report which includes the number and type of liquor businesses and the latest demographic and alcohol-related crime and health data for every suburb and Local Government Area (LGA) in NSW.

It brings together publicly-available data into one centralised, easy-to-use online tool that features interactive maps, charts and benchmarks. This is the same data the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) considers when it makes decisions on liquor-related applications.

LiveData is informed by ILGA Guideline 6, which describes data that ILGA can consider when assessing the social impacts of a liquor-related application.

Liquor & Gaming LiveData was launched in July 2020.

How can you use Liquor & Gaming LiveData?

If you are a liquor licence applicant, LiveData can help you identify potential risks of alcohol-related harm in a community. You can use this information to modify or improve your application in response to those risks.

If you are part of a Liquor Accord, LiveData can help you to understand the alcohol-related trends and risks in your local area. You can use this data to inform accord strategies that address any identified issues.

As a member of the community, LiveData can improve your understanding of conditions and risks in your neighbourhood. This information can be helpful if you wish to make a submission about a liquor-related application.

What risk management strategies could applicants adopt?

If you intend to operate a business or event which serves alcohol, it is important you have strategies in place to ensure the safety and amenity of patrons, staff and the public.

A list of questions is shown below to help you consider possible risk management strategies for your venue. This is not an exhaustive list, and not all questions may be applicable to your business.

• Are your planned hours of operation suitable for your licensed premises?
• What is your planned patron capacity? Do you plan to restrict patron numbers in order to maintain amenity inside your licensed premises?
• Will your licensed premises provide food and/or other entertainment alongside the provision of liquor?
• What Responsible Service of Alcohol initiatives will you be promoting at your licensed premises?
• Have you installed a CCTV system? Does it cover the higher risk areas of the licensed premises?
• Do you have security arrangements for the licensed premises? Is the number of security staff appropriate given your planned patron capacity?
• Are the various areas, including entry and exit, easily accessible and well lit?
• Will your licensed premises be hosting special events? How will you manage patron numbers and trading hours for these special events?
• Are you intending to join your local liquor accord?
• Will your licensed premises have a house policy on patron behaviour? How will it be displayed?
• Will your licensed premises have a plan of management?
• Have you selected the right licence type for your business or event? Licence Selector tool

If you are planning on using any of these, or other, risk management strategies in your licensed premises, you should include them in your licence application or accompanying Plan of Management document.

About this document

The purpose of these Technical Notes is to help you understand how Liquor & Gaming LiveData can support an assessment of the risks of alcohol-related harm in a community.

LiveData is an online tool that allows you to search and generate a report which includes the number and type of liquor businesses and the latest demographic and alcohol-related crime and health data for every suburb and Local Government Area (LGA) in NSW.

It brings together publicly-available data into one centralised, easy-to-use online tool that features interactive maps, charts and benchmarks. This is the same data the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) considers when it makes decisions on liquor-related applications.

LiveData is informed by ILGA Guideline 6, which describes data that ILGA can consider when assessing the social impacts of a liquor-related application.

Liquor & Gaming LiveData was launched in July 2020.

LiveData users should exercise their own judgment when considering its outputs. LiveData reports the same data that ILGA will receive to inform its licensing decisions. However, ILGA receives or may request additional information which can assist with its interpretation of LiveData. For example, ILGA may give consideration to the harm minimisation measures proposed by the applicant as a risk mitigating factor.

ILGA will also give consideration to the reliability of LiveData, noting that in some instances, data calculated on the basis of small base numbers may be less reliable and carry less weight.

Outlet density (saturation), offence data, and alcohol-attributable hospitalisations and deaths are based on resident populations and the calculations do not account for transient populations. As such, users should exercise caution when interpreting such data for areas with significant transient populations (e.g. tourists, visitors).

Community Profile Data

LiveData reports the following community data:

• Resident population
• Proportion of residents that are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
• Remoteness Area
• Socio-economic status

Community profile data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016 Australian Census.

The residential population figure reported for localities in the Community Profile is based on the population reported in the 2016 Australian Census. LiveData uses ABS population projections to calculate outlet saturation and offence rates per 100,000 population for suburbs and LGAs in non-Census collection years.

LiveData reports the proportion of a residential population that is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) background. There is research evidence that ATSI populations are at higher risk of alcohol-attributable hospitalisation².

According to ILGA Guideline 6, ILGA may compare conditions in a locality where a liquor licence is proposed to other relevant areas. In addition to comparing local data to the NSW average, LiveData compares localities using the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard classification. ABS Remoteness Areas divide NSW into five areas: Major Cities, Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote. When a locality crosses into multiple Remoteness Areas, ABS data is used to attribute that locality to the Remoteness Area where the largest percentage of its population resides.

LiveData reports a community’s socio-economic status according to the ABS Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage & Disadvantage. ILGA Guideline 6 cites research that indicates socio-economically disadvantaged people are more likely to experience alcohol-related domestic and non-domestic assault³. NSW Health data shows the most socio-economically advantaged people have the lowest rate of alcohol-attributable death⁴.

Outlet Density (Saturation & Clustering)

ILGA Guideline 6 includes research that shows outlet density is positively associated with rates of alcohol-related harm⁵. LiveData reports outlet density in two ways:

• Saturation - calculates how many liquor licences are in an area relative to the population.
• Clustering - calculates the spatial proximity of liquor licences to each other.

LiveData reports the total number of liquor licences that are currently authorised in a locality. This excludes liquor licence types that do not specifically serve liquor to a locality under examination (i.e. packaged liquor stores with a ‘no walk-up’ condition, or a producer/wholesaler without an on-premises authorisation). LiveData also reports outlet-density (saturation) and outlet-density (clustering) by particular licence types (e.g. hotels, clubs or packaged liquor stores).

Outlet density data is sourced from Liquor & Gaming NSW internal databases.

Outlet density (saturation) has been used by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research (BOCSAR)⁶ to show the effects of liquor licence concentrations on rates of alcohol-related assault. Outlet density (saturation) in LiveData is reported as the number of liquor licences per 100,000 residents.

Outlet density (Clustering) shows the spatial concentration of liquor licences in an area. It is calculated by averaging the number of liquor licences in a 1km radius of each liquor licence in the locality under examination. This method was developed by the Allen Consulting Group for the (former) Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing in 2012⁷.

A 1km radius is drawn around each authorised liquor licence in the locality under examination. The number of other licences within each 1 km radius is counted, including any liquor licences that fall within adjacent suburbs or LGAs. The number of liquor licences within each 1km radius are then added together and is then divided by the total number of licensed premises in the area to determine a final clustering measure.

Offence Data

Offence data in LiveData is sourced from BOCSAR. Most data is publicly available on its Crime Tool.

Assault refers to a direct infliction of force, injury or violence on a person or the direct threat of force, injury or violence where there is an apprehension the threat could be enacted. LiveData shows data about assaults in a suburb or Local Government Area (LGA) which the NSW Police Force has flagged as alcohol-related.

According to the research cited in ILGA Guideline 6, there is an association between outlet density and the prevalence of alcohol-related non-domestic assault in an area⁸. There is some evidence to suggest the outlet density of hotels and some late-trading licensed premises is associated with higher levels of alcohol-related non-domestic assault^{9, 10}.

Research studies reported in ILGA Guideline 6 show an association between outlet density and alcohol-related domestic assault^{11, 12}. This association is particularly evident for liquor outlets that offer takeaway sales (e.g. packaged liquor stores)¹³.

LiveData reports alcohol-related non-domestic assault based on ‘seriousness’, distinguishing between ‘serious’ (i.e. assaults resulting in ‘grievous bodily harm’ or ‘actual bodily harm’) and ‘non-serious’ assault. ILGA Guideline 6 refers to severity (seriousness) of assault as a matter ILGA may consider. Research shows the density of certain liquor licence types can be associated with serious assault¹⁴. Data about serious assaults can be used to help decision-makers measure impacts of harm-reduction measures and risks arising from density of certain venue types.

LiveData reports late-night assault data (assaults occurring between midnight and 6am). This data may be useful when considering risk associated with a licence application for a late-trading premises. ILGA Guideline 6 refers to late night assault as data ILGA may consider. It contains research showing extended late-night trading hours are associated with higher levels of acute alcohol-related harm¹⁵.

ILGA Guideline 6 states ILGA may consider ‘offensive conduct’ data in an area when making a liquor licence decision. Offensive conduct includes non-verbal behaviour likely to be considered offensive by another person. Research studies have identified an association between outlet density and anti-social behaviour¹⁶, and outlet density and complaints of drunken behaviour¹⁷.

Guideline 6 confirms ILGA may consider Malicious Damage to Property data when making a liquor licence decision. This includes wilful and unlawful destruction, damage or defacement of property¹⁸. According to BOCSAR, around 50% of Malicious Damage to Property offences where the offender was known are related to alcohol¹⁹.

LiveData does not report offence rates per 100,000 population in Local Government Areas with populations of less than 3000, suburbs less than 2000, and any area that has no population data available. This is the same approach that is used by the Bureau of Crime, Statistics and Research (BOCSAR). BOCSAR does not report this data in areas with small populations because small numbers of offences can have a large effect on the rate of crime.

Alcohol-Attributable Deaths and Hospitalisations

LiveData reports alcohol-attributable hospitalisations and alcohol-attributable deaths based on LGA. The data is publicly available from HealthStats NSW.

Alcohol-attributable hospitalisations and alcohol-attributable deaths refer to the number of hospitalisations or deaths among residents of an area that are attributable to alcohol. Alcohol-attributable hospitalisation and/or death includes outcomes relating to binge drinking, mental health or chronic disease²⁰. These measures are calculated based on an individual’s residence and not based on where the hospitalisation or death occurred. It excludes patients treated solely within hospital emergency departments²¹.

ILGA Guideline 6 refers to research showing an association between outlet density and alcohol-attributable hospitalisation. For example, it refers to a study which found a 10% rise in packaged liquor store saturation corresponds to a 1.9% rise in hospital admission for alcohol-related chronic disease²².

According to research in ILGA Guideline 6, areas with higher packaged liquor store availability (measured by the distribution of packaged store density) tend to have higher rates of alcohol-attributable death²³.

Area Comparison

ILGA Guideline 6 refers to the NSW average for the comparison of local conditions, including outlet density and crime data.

Statistical Area Comparison is based on the ASGS Remoteness Area classification. It can be used to compare data of suburbs and LGAs located in the same Remoteness Area in NSW. For example, a resident of Yass (classed as an outer-regional area) could use the Statistical Area Comparison to compare the rate of alcohol-related offences across time in their community to the average rate of similar offences occurring in outer-regional areas across the whole of NSW. Data for the previous three years is provided to show changes in conditions over time.