Minors and the bar in NSW, Victoria and Queensland

NSWNew South Wales

In the Liquor Act 2007 a minor “means a person who is under the age of 18 years” (s 4). Section 117 sets out several offences; among them:

• s 117(1): “A person must not sell liquor to a minor.”
• s 117(2): “A person must not supply liquor to a minor on licensed premises.”
• s 117(8): “A licensee must not, on licensed premises, allow liquor to be sold or supplied to a minor.”

Maximum penalty for each: 100 penalty units or 12 months imprisonment (or both).

For s 117, “supply of liquor includes serving liquor to a person” (s 117(12)). The defence s 117 gives to the licensee’s offence in s 117(8) is that “the liquor was supplied to the minor by the parent or guardian of the minor” (s 117(9)), and the person charged carries the burden of proving that someone was a parent or guardian, or was authorised by one (s 117(10)). The evidence-of-age defence is narrower than it looks, and the ID card sets out its reach.

The parent or guardian exception

The words about parents sit inside s 117(4), which is its own offence: supplying liquor to a minor “on any premises other than licensed premises”, unless the person supplying is the minor’s parent or guardian, or someone a parent or guardian has authorised, and the supply “is consistent with the responsible supervision of the minor”. Supplying liquor to a minor who is intoxicated is never consistent with responsible supervision for that purpose (s 117(5A)).

Where s 117 applies to an on-premises licence that relates to a catering service, “a reference to licensed premises does not include any private domestic premises” (s 117(11)). The selling offence in s 117(1) reads: “A person must not sell liquor to a minor.” How the subsections fit a particular booking at a private home is a question for the state’s liquor regulator or a lawyer.

VICVictoria

Section 119 of the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 is written about supplying liquor to a person under 18, and in that Act supply includes selling and giving away (s 3(1)). Its offences, person by person:

• A licensee or permittee must not supply liquor, or permit it to be supplied, to a person under 18 (s 119(1)). 120 penalty units.
• If liquor is supplied to a person under 18 on the licensed or authorised premises, the licensee or permittee is guilty of an offence (s 119(2)). 120 penalty units.
• A licensee’s employee, acting or purporting to act in their employment, must not supply liquor to a person under 18 (s 119(4)). 20 penalty units.
• Anyone else must not supply liquor to a person under 18 either (s 119(3)). 120 penalty units.

The residence exception

Section 119(5) lists situations those four offences do not reach. Among them, in s 119(5)(e), is supply of liquor to a minor in a residence by an adult who can show responsible supervision of that supply, weighing factors that include the minor’s age; whether the person supplying is intoxicated; whether the minor eats food with the liquor; whether the person supplying is supervising the minor’s drinking; the quantity and type of liquor and the time over which it is supplied; and whether the minor is intoxicated. For that paragraph, the adult is the minor’s parent, guardian or spouse (a spouse only if 18 or over), or someone one of them has authorised to supply the liquor (s 119(5A)).

QLDQueensland

Maximum penalty: 250 penalty units for the licensee or permittee, or an approved manager working at the premises; 80 penalty units in any other case.

Under s 156(1), on premises to which a licence or permit relates, a person must not supply liquor to a minor, permit or allow liquor to be supplied to one, or allow liquor to be consumed by one. The same subsection covers a person who is unduly intoxicated or disorderly, which the refusal card takes up. Where the person is a minor, the maximum is 250 penalty units for the licensee or permittee, or an approved manager working at the premises, and 80 penalty units for anyone else.

The private place exception

Section 156A is headed “Irresponsible supply of liquor to a minor at a private place etc.” It says: “An adult must not supply liquor to a minor at a private place, unless the adult is a responsible adult for the minor.” A responsible adult may supply there only if “the supply is consistent with the responsible supervision of the minor”, and the maximum for each offence is 80 penalty units. Relevant factors include whether the adult is unduly intoxicated, whether the minor is unduly intoxicated, the minor’s age, whether the minor is eating with the liquor, whether the adult is responsibly supervising the minor’s drinking, and the quantity supplied and the period over which it was supplied (s 156A(3)).

Section 5 lists who is a responsible adult for a minor: “a parent, step-parent or guardian of the minor”, or “an adult who has parental rights and responsibilities for the minor”.

Minors on the pouring side of the bar