The steady proliferation of Australia’s discretionary police-imposed patron banning powers: An unsubstantiated cycle of assertion and presumption

Abstract

Patron banning in Australia embodies a range of exclusionary measures in response to alcohol-related disorder. Patrons can be banned from licensed venues, entertainment precincts or wider public areas. Banning mechanisms remove and exclude troublesome individuals and are presumed to deter them, and others, from engaging in further problematic behaviour. The use of exclusion reflects key assumptions in relation to alcohol-related disorderly behaviour and effective management of risks to which it may give rise. However, the rationale underpinning much of the banning-related legislative and operational policing developments reflects largely unsubstantiated assertions of need and effect. Despite the steady expansion of banning powers across Australian jurisdictions there is limited oversight of their use. This article examines the expansion of police-imposed banning powers. Their discretionary, on-the-spot and permissible pre-emptive imposition has potential consequences that extend beyond the management of alcohol-related issues. Yet their use and effect has been subject to little scrutiny.