Submission to the SA Inquiry into the sale and consumption of alcohol

FARE’s submission to the South Australian Parliament Social Development Committee Inquiry into the sale and consumption of alcohol canvases the impact of alcohol use in South Australia (SA) and finds that there are significant harms to drinkers and to those who have been harmed by the drinking of others. FARE makes 12 recommendations to decrease alcohol-related harms.

Recommendations

1. That the SA Government establishes and enforces saturation zones in areas that are identified as already having large numbers of liquor licenses, including small venue licenses.
2. That the SA Government introduces cumulative impact and cluster control policies for the determination of new liquor licenses.
3. That the SA Government abandons the Draft Liquor Licensing (Sale of Wine in Supermarkets) Amendment Bill 2013.
4. That the SA Government legislates for licensed venues to cease trading at 3.00am for venues that currently trade past this time.
5. That the introduction of reduced trading hours be independently evaluated to ascertain the social, health, crime and economic effects of these trading controls.
6. That the Committee finds that the SA Government’s Consumer and Business Services has failed to fulfil its responsibility to adequately regulate the promotion of alcohol under the provisions it has under the Liquor Licensing Act 1997.
7. That the SA Government develop a separate set of Liquor Promotion Guidelines that go beyond the current General Code of Practice Guidelines and ensure that both on-license and off-license premises are regulated with equal weight.
8. That the SA Government clarifies and tightens regulations regarding point of sale promotions with a view to minimising minors’ exposure to these promotions in and around licensed premises in public-access areas, such as restaurants with bar sections, supermarkets with liquor sections, and shopping malls with packaged liquor outlets.
9. That the SA Government amends the Liquor Licensing Act 1997 to legislate for a minimum floor price for alcohol sold at both on and off-licence premises to stop reckless discounting by licensees.
10. That the SA Government mandates the collection and publication of alcohol sales data in SA as recommended by the Australian National Preventative Health Agency.
11. That the SA makes alcohol sales data is made publically available in a format which can be easily accessed, used and analysed by policy makers and researchers.
12. That the SA Government develop a comprehensive social marketing and public education campaign on the short-term and long-term harms associated with alcohol consumption based on the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking.