Queensland’s controversial new liquor laws have attracted international ridicule after Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, the husband of Princess Mary, was refused entry to a Brisbane bar.

The Crown Prince – who is 49 – did not have an ID, so he was barred from entering the Jade Buddha just before midnight on Friday.

The ID scanning law, which came into effect on July 1, requires anyone entering a venue in a ‘Safe Night Precinct’ after 10pm to have their ID, such as a driver’s licence or passport, scanned.

The industry has been critical of the ID scanners, saying they catch out tourists and business travellers, and create long line ups that deter patrons. The machines also cost $8000 each, leading 31 licensees inside Safe Night Precincts had applied to reduce their hours from 2am or 3am to midnight to avoid using the scanners.

Prince Frederik was in Brisbane en route to Hamilton Island Race Week yachting regatta. He turned to police officers from the “dignitary protection unit’’ for help. They told venue manager he had the green light from Office of Liquor and Gaming bureaucrats to allow the Danish prince to bypass the ID laws.

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath told Parliament the case showed venues “applied the law equally”.

“The Prince obviously did not take great offence as he returned a short time later and was granted entry,” she said.

“The fact is this has not caused a diplomatic incident as some would have you believe.”

Jade Buddha co-owner Phil Hogan told the Courier Mail: “It’s a stupid law. We always thought it was going to be a nightmare.

“It’s happening all the time and the whole thing has been a nightmare from a tourist point of view. It’s just a nonsense. It’s a real overreaction.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg with the Prince. It’s happening all the time with normal people.”

Speaking to Sunrise on Tuesday, Hogan said the Crown Prince surprised staff when he eventually got inside the venue.

“At the end of it all, they go up into the room and he is surrounded by his security, and no one expected him to actually walk up to the bar himself,” he said.

“So while the venue manager is racing around like a lunatic organising cocktail waitresses for his group, the Prince just walks up to the bar and the guy that served him said ‘hey, dude, what can I get you?’.

“And he bought a Dark & Stormy. So to give him credit he seemed like a very nice fellow.”

Not a good look for Brisbane

There has been outrage from venue owners since the measures were introduced. 

In early July, a Facebook post from Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall owner Jamie Webb went viral. It said: “Thank you Annastacia Palaszczuk MP & Queensland Labor you are killing my business and nightlife in Queensland. Costing jobs & livelihoods for a cure to a problem you can’t intelligently tackle … lost my vote.  I’m not gonna sugar coat this tonight was hard and for no other reason that the ID scanners.

“I have never been abused more tonight out of pure frustration since i ran a door with a dress code, the hospitality has been taken from our front door due to these laws and it is now our job to bring it back and figure out how to make these laws, which we won’t be able to change, fit with our ethos. as it stands what we are doing is not working.”

The Chief Executive of the city’s economic development board, Brisbane Marketing, told ABC Radio Brisbane it was “not a good look” for the city.

“It’s certainly not the headlines that we want going around the world. Indeed, we do a lot of work to position Brisbane as a destination of choice worldwide for business, for leisure. Headlines like that certainly don’t help us.”

Commissioner apologises for police handling of the incident

Queensland’s Police Commissioner later apologised for officers breached the state’s new liquor laws to allow Prince Frederik of Denmark into a Brisbane bar without having his ID scanned.

Commissioner Ian Stewart said: “I apologise unreservedly to anyone who was at the Jade Buddha if the Prince’s presence there caused any concern. Or if the way that our officers acted created a perception of intimidation or what have you. Our staff have asked them to do something that is a breach of the legislation. There is no doubt about that.”

The bar’s co-owner Phil Hogan called for the apology during a live interview on ABC Radio Brisbane after the Commissioner claimed the venue’s version of events were untrue.

Hogan said a staff member had called him seeking permission to by pass the laws, but before Hogan could respond the Prince’s security detail “barged in” to the venue.

One AFP officer even told the bouncer his detail could “overrule” liquor licencing laws, an incident report filled out by the venue staff said.

Hogan released security footage of the incident (pictured above) to back up his claims.

Second embarrassing incident

Just days after the new ID scanning laws were introduced, one of Australia’s best bars was forced to turn away a group of French winemakers.

The visitors arrived at The Gresham, in the Brisbane CBD, about midnight Wednesday but were not allowed in because two of them did not have their passports.

General manager, Ryan Lane, told The Brisbane Times the incident was embarrassing for him, his venue and the state in general.

“The way that other states look at Queensland, I feel embarrassed for that,” he said. “And of course because I’m dealing with international tourism that I’ve had to turn away last night, I feel embarrassed for Australia.

“If they were to fly out today their last impression that they got of Australia is that ‘we weren’t allowed into the venue because we didn’t have a passport’, even though they’re sober, of age, polite.”