Producing the market for alcohol : the Victorian example

This article analyses three important inquiries into alcohol licensing in Victoria from 1965 to 1986. It argues that each inquiry was directed to produce a market for alcohol, but the 1986 inquiry, in particular, was directed to produce the conditions for the Night-time Economy. Since the mid-twentieth century, Victoria was considered a bell weather state in relation to alcohol licensing and this was increasingly the case when it comes to the state retreating from control over licensing conditions. From the end of six o'clock closing to the 24 hour city, the inquiries transformed the issues related to alcohol from the problems associated with alcohol consumption to the treatment of alcohol as just another consumer commodity.