Mark: Review TT’s laws to see if they work

LAWS passed by Parliament should be reviewed a few years after their passage to see if they are working, urged Opposition Senator Wade Mark in Tuesday’s Senate debate on the Licensing Committee (Validation) Bill 2018. “This Parliament needs a post legislative scrutiny committee,” Mark said.

He argued that such a committee would have prevented the need for the Senate to act to approve actions done by licensing committees which had continued to be constituted under the old Liquor Licences Act, when in fact they should instead have existed under a newer law, the Miscellaneous Provisions (Licensing Committee) Act 2014.

Mark otherwise asked if the Senate’s actions Tuesday were valid, as he feared they were a breach of the principle of the separation of powers by having the Legislature act in matters of the Judiciary, that included magistrates heading liquor licensing committees. “If this bill is passed and someone appeals by constitutional review, what would be the outcome?” Mark mused. “I’d call on the Attorney General to delay this debate until we can get a proper legal opinion.” Earlier AG Faris Al-Rawi explained the bill at length and revealed that in a four year period from 2014/2015 to 2017/2018, some 14,596 licences had been granted under the Liquor Licence Act.

Independent Senator Anthony Vieira, a practising attorney, used the debate to lament the workings of the liquor laws. “I can’t turn a blind eye to irregularities I have witnessed first hand.” He said while the parent act allows mediation between an applicant and an objector to reach an amicable outcome, members of the licensing committees are not trained in such and do not have physical accommodation to conduct it. “I had a situation where I cited this law and the licensing committee looked at me like I was from Mars.” In another application case, a magistrate told him, “I’m not comfortable reviewing this case. Go to the Court of Appeal.”