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
- Ensure that licence fees paid by licensees are sufficiently high to reflect the risk associated with a venue and the administrative, health and social costs associated with the sale of alcohol in the NT.
- Amend the purposes of the Bill to reflect the primary purpose of the Bill as currently described in in s3(1) and remove reference to the secondary purpose of stimulating the tourism and hospitality industries described in s3(2)(d).
- Amend section 36(8) of the Bill to convey that the identification system requirements under Part 6, Division 1, do apply to an interstate retailer’s licence, and establish a system for use by such retailers.
- Amend the Act to include a requirement that interstate retailers must supply quarterly returns in the same manner as to NT licensees under the Act.
- Amend s36(5) of the Bill to convey that an interstate retailer’s licence is subject to the proposed risk-based licensing.
- Extend the ban on in-store credit for alcohol within s41(2)(h) to encompass ‘buy now pay later’ services and similar quasi-credit.
- Amend s41(4) of the Liquor Bill 2019 to give the Commission power to limit the size of an outlet as a mechanism to mitigate a possible adverse impact on the community or achieve some other objective.
- Insert a provision to direct the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal to consider a fee waiver for public interest objectors.
- Amend Part 3, Division 1 and Part 4, Division 4 of the Bill of the Liquor Bill 2019 to include provisions requiring the Director of Licensing to compile both wholesale and retail alcohol sales data from the quarterly returns, and release this data to the public within twenty-eight days of its being supplied.
- Amend s35 to remove any exceptions so that in all circumstances where the NT has jurisdiction, any business or organisation that sells or serves alcohol in all circumstances is required to obtain a liquor licence.
