The ACT Government recently tabled its Liquor Amendment Bill 2025 that updates the ACT’s Liquor Act to provide important safety measures that will reduce harm to women and children. The ACT Government’s move follows the commitment that all states and territories made to review their liquor licensing laws, following a National Cabinet meeting in September 2024 to address the national crisis of domestic, family and sexual violence.
The ACT Standing Committee on Legal Affairs is hosting an inquiry into the Bill, and FARE along with lived experience advocates, and other community, health and domestic violence bodies, lodged submissions. The Bill provides a range of vital, common-sense measures around alcohol delivery, including:
- Amending delivery timeframes to between 10am and 10pm.
- Establishing a 2-hour safety pause between sale and delivery.
- Age verification for online sales of alcohol and some ID checks on alcohol delivery.
- Establishing an offence for delivering alcohol to a person under 18 years; leaving alcohol unattended; and delivering to people who are intoxicated.
- Supporting delivery staff with delivery-specific Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training and not penalising them for refusals.
A key measure missing from the Bill, which is called for by survivors, community organisations and expert reviews, is making harm minimisation the paramount objective of the Liquor Act and restricting alcohol marketing. The Bill can also be improved by extending protections beyond ‘same day’ delivery, which has the same risks as non-same day delivery, and adopting further relevant and important reforms to properly regulate online sale and delivery. These include establishing an online sale and delivery (OS&D) license category (which includes a requirement for community consultation), risk ratings and fees and implementing OS&D test purchasing to ensure compliance efficacy of the reforms.
Summary of recommendations
- Pass the Liquor Amendment Bill 2025.
- Prioritise harm minimisation above other considerations, by making it the paramount Object, and include gender-based violence in the definition of alcohol harms ‘Harm minimisation and community safety principles’.
- Change the scope of measures in the Bill to apply to all online sales and delivery of alcohol, not just “same day” delivery.
- Support the establishment of a delivery timeframe from 10am to 10pm.
- Support the establishment a 2-hour safety pause and specify that 2-hours is the “minimum” restriction (ie at least 2 hours).
- Support requirements for digital proof of age and proof of age on delivery. Production of ID should be required for every delivery.
- Support the offence of delivering alcohol to a person who is intoxicated, and the requirement for delivery staff to undergo delivery-specific Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training.
- Support the ability for people to opt-out of direct advertising and marketing.
- Enact further marketing and advertising restrictions, including banning unacceptable marketing practices of alcohol, restricting digital marketing practices such as buy now buttons, and requiring alcohol companies with online advertising to display prescribed health warning statements.
- Ensure the protections in the Bill are effective by expanding the current program of compliance tests to include online sale and delivery of alcohol.
- Amend the requirements for retailers to collect data and keep records to specify this includes volume of alcohol sold online as well as delivered geographically. Publish regular sales and delivery data reports, including refusals, to enable research and compliance monitoring.
- Clarify in the Bill that delivery companies are liable for delivery breaches, such as delivery to children or people who are intoxicated.
- Establish a separate, specific liquor licence category for OS&D. Require retailers to have and display this license to sell alcohol online or to deliver alcohol.
- Improve community impact processes in the Liquor Act, including publishing full licence applications with risk-assessment management plans and, resourcing independent support for members of the public impacted by increases in alcohol supply density.
- Establish a risk-factor for online sales and delivery to accurately reflect the increased risk of harms. Incorporate a risk factor for supply density (as an equivalent for outlet density) for online sales and delivery of alcohol in a geographic area. Consult alcohol policy experts on the development, implementation and evaluation of such a risk factor.