Alcohol reforms in the Northern Territory (NT) have included a rewrite of the Northern Territory of Australia Liquor Act 1978 (the Act).
FARE and the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition (PAAC) welcomed the opportunity to provide comment on the Exposure Draft of the Liquor Bill 2019 (the Bill) in April. A new strong Liquor Act is a pivotal piece of legislation to continue stopping the harms from alcohol and to successfully implement the Riley Review reforms in the NT.
The Exposure Draft provided a good foundation for the new Liquor Bill, but some areas required further attention. FARE and PAAC provided 50 recommendations in their joint submission to strengthen the Bill and provide a strong regulatory framework for the future.
Recommendations
- Flavour extracts should be controlled through a management plan for intoxicating substances using a legislative framework, along with products such as mouthwash and methylated spirits.
- Amend s77 of the Bill of the Liquor Bill 2019 to explicitly state that the take-away authority moratorium does not prevent the transfer of an authority within the same licence category or authority only.
- Amend the Bill to include specific provisions to restrict or prohibit promotional activity and undesirable liquor products. These provisions should address promotions by both on- and off licence premises with equal weight and cover a range of mediums that include, but are not limited to, signs, banners, flyers, posters, newspapers, SMS text messages, online and social media.
- Amend the Bill to declare the following as prohibited promotional activity:
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- ‘shopper dockets’ (liquor promotion vouchers on the receipts for purchases)
- harmful price discounting such as the sale of alcohol at half, or less than half, of the usual price
- the display of point of sale promotional materials for liquor (such as ‘happy hours’, free gifts with purchase, prominent signage, competitions, price discounts for bulk purchases, and sale prices) on and around licensed premises where minors are likely to be present.
- Amend the Bill to ban alcohol advertising on publicly owned assets, such as public buses.
- Remove the provisions under section 112 (2) (a) and (b) of the Bill that provide licensees with the ability to serve one standard drink free of charge in specific circumstances.
- Add a requirement to s126 of the Bill that any person required to attend a refresher course on the responsible service of alcohol under s126(2) must in addition pass an assessment that tests competency in this area.
- Remove ss4 of s137 of the Bill requiring the Director of Licensing to give licensees written notice of a pending harm minimisation audit.
- Amend the Bill to include the implementation of management plans to secure intoxicating products including mouthwash and methylated spirits, and to restrict their sales in order to reduce misuse.
- The use of the POSI powers as they extend to persons in vehicles in the vicinity of take-away outlets should be accurately recorded and monitored so as to ensure there is no unauthorised extension by officers.
- Amend the Electoral Act 2004 to ban political donations from the liquor industry and its representatives in the interest of greater transparency and the avoidance of influence on alcohol policy.
