South Australia’s Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence has given the state’s leaders a clear direction to pull every lever to help prevent violence towards women and children.
In its long-awaited report, With Courage: South Australia’s vision beyond violence, the Royal Commission made 136 recommendations that would place “prevention, early intervention, response and recovery and healing at the centre of a more accountable and effective system”.
Importantly, the unique perspectives of victim-survivors were intertwined throughout this report. Their voices clearly informed the Royal Commission’s recommendations. An additional and separate ‘Voices’ report offered more space to reflect on their “advice, aspirations and lived experiences”.
What was very clear in the Report, as quoted on page 8, is the South Australian Government must listen to the “many lived realities” of victim survivors, by acting on all recommendations to address the crisis of violence towards women and children.
Alongside victim-survivors, community groups and organisations who work in the crisis response and prevention sectors, we welcomed the Royal Commission’s findings.
Below, we unpack the Report’s recommendations around alcohol reform – and how the Royal Commission embedded lived experience.
Firstly, how did we get here?
In November 2023, the Malinauskas Government committed to a Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence after the murders of four women in South Australia in one week.
Led by Royal Commissioner and former federal senator, Natasha Stott Despoja AO, the commission began its work in July 2024 – and heard from more than 5,000 people over its year-long investigation.
That investigation revolved around five key areas for change: prevention, early intervention, response, recovery and healing, and coordination.
Among the 381 submissions received by the Royal Commission, FARE’s submission underlined the need for “urgent reforms … to address the increased risk from the expansion of the availability and accessibility of alcohol”.
Royal Commission backs nation-leading alcohol law reforms
Victim survivors have been calling for action on alcohol for many years, as they know first-hand how alcohol plays a role in intensifying and exacerbating violence.
To them, the link between alcohol and violence is undeniable.
The Royal Commission clearly heard their voices, as its Report recommended the South Australian government expedite its proposed reforms to the state’s Liquor Act.
In Recommendation 128, the Royal Commission gave a clear, specific and indisputable directive to the Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Andrea Michaels, to “immediately” progress reforms in the Liquor Licensing (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025, including:
- Harm minimisation as the “paramount” object of SA’s Liquor Licensing Act
- Introducing a two-hour safety pause between the online sale and delivery of alcohol
- Amending the window for deliveries of alcohol to the home
The South Australian government must demonstrate that the lives of women and children come before alcohol industry profits, by passing its draft bill with these measures intact.
As we continue working towards addressing rates of domestic and family violence, we must also keep recognising how alcohol is a catalyst for harm.
The Royal Commission shared evidence that alcohol use was “associated with more severe violence and a greater likelihood of injury” and acknowledged that steps to improve alcohol regulation must sit alongside “strategies that are community led, culturally safe and responsive to local contexts.”
“The draft Bill is a good first step in leveraging alcohol regulation to prevent domestic, family and sexual violence,” the Royal Commission wrote.
Recommendations 129 to 131 included further alcohol-related measures.
One of these was a “review of all available regulatory levers” so the state’s alcohol laws meet the paramount object of harm minimisation included in the proposed Draft Bill.
Alcohol is a ‘commercial determinant of violence’
For too long, victim survivors have been left to manage the supply of alcohol into the home. When every mobile phone is a bottle shop with alcohol delivered in as little as 20 minutes, the accessibility and availability of alcohol increases.
The Royal Commission recognised that if we want effective, long-lasting change, that responsibility must shift from victim survivors to alcohol companies.
On page 604 of its Report, alcohol was described as a “commercial determinant of violence” and that industries like alcohol and gambling “profit from harmful products”.
Better regulation of companies that profit from harmful products and services “can minimise harm before it occurs,” the Royal Commission wrote.
It added: “Reversing the onus of safety from individuals to industries presents an underutilised opportunity to prevent domestic, family and sexual violence.
Premier Peter Malinauskas acknowledged that online sale and delivery platforms have been “relatively unregulated” since their introduction during the COVID pandemic.
“[That] has got to change,” Premier Malinauskas said.
A new standard for engaging lived experience
The Royal Commission’s work in centring lived experience needs to be acknowledged.
In 12 months, the Royal Commission heard from 5,000 people – around a quarter of them with lived or living experience of violence.
The Royal Commission used many traditional techniques, like written submissions. But it also experimented with new ways of involving lived experience perspectives, including:
- A 114-page ‘Voices’ report that sat above the Royal Commission’s final report and supporting documents on its website
- Deep listening sessions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and an Aboriginal Partnership Committee
- An online ‘Share With Us’ survey that received more than 1,100 responses
- A student summit and postcard campaign for children and young people
- Quotes from lived experience voices often appearing before the discussion and 136 recommendations in the final report.
The Royal Commission showed a deep desire for involving the perspectives of people with lived experience.
“Collective action that addresses these diverse experiences, all at once, is urgently needed if we are to have any real chance of ending domestic, family and sexual violence within a single generation,” the Royal Commission wrote.
With each of the Royal Commission’s recommendations grounded in lived experience, the South Australian government must do more than listen – they must act with nation-leading courage and conviction for other states and territories to follow.
Half-measures won’t do.
