| State | Who carries the duty | What is needed | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | The staff member of licensed premises, and the licensee, who must not cause or permit an unendorsed staff member to sell, supply or serve (cl 63(1) and (2)) | A recognised competency card with a current RSA endorsement | Whenever selling, supplying or serving liquor by retail on the premises |
| Victoria | The licensee, under a general, on-premises, packaged liquor or late night licence (s 108AB(1)) | An approved responsible service of alcohol program, finished by each person who sells, offers for sale or serves liquor on the premises | Within 3 years before a person first sells, offers for sale or serves there, or within one month after; then again within 3 years of the last program (s 108AB(2), s 108AC(2)) |
| Queensland | The licensee, as a condition of the licence (s 141C(1)) | A current training course certificate, held by the licensee (if an individual) and by staff involved in serving or supplying liquor | A new staff member has until 30 days after joining (s 141C(2)) |
NSWThe competency card
The New South Wales rule sits in the Liquor Regulation 2018, not the Act. Clause 63(1) reads:
“A staff member of licensed premises must not sell, supply or serve liquor by retail on the premises unless the staff member holds a recognised competency card with a current RSA endorsement.”
Liquor Regulation 2018 (NSW) cl 63(1)Maximum penalty for the staff member: 20 penalty units if the premises are in a prescribed precinct, 10 penalty units if they are not.
The licensee answers separately. Under cl 63(2) the licensee “must not cause or permit a staff member to sell, supply or serve liquor by retail on the premises” without that card and endorsement, with a maximum of 50 penalty units. Under cl 63(3), the licensee “must not sell, supply or serve liquor by retail on the premises, or cause or permit liquor to be sold, supplied or served by retail on the premises, unless the licensee holds a recognised competency card” carrying a current RSA endorsement; for tier 1 licensed premises, also “a current licensee endorsement”; and for tier 2 licensed premises, also “a current licensee endorsement and a current advanced licensee endorsement”. The maximum is again 50 penalty units. The manager of licensed premises has matching endorsement rules under cl 63(4), also up to 50 penalty units, and under cl 63(6) a manager need not hold the licensee or advanced licensee endorsement until 60 days after the licensee notifies the Authority of the manager’s appointment, or, for the registered clubs it describes, after the secretary is approved. Clause 63(5) exempts some licensees from cl 63(3), among them a corporation.
Staff who live in another state
Clause 63(4A) lifts cl 63(1) and (2) for a staff member who meets both of two conditions: one “whose principal place of residence is a State or Territory other than New South Wales”, and “who has completed an approved interstate RSA training course within the previous 5 years”. Clause 63(8) defines a principal place of residence as a person’s “settled or usual home”.
Pouring inside someone else’s venue
Clause 63(7) deals with liquor served at a promotion run by someone other than the venue’s licensee. For the purposes of the clause, liquor “sold, supplied or served on licensed premises as part of a promotional activity conducted by someone other than the licensee is taken to have been sold, supplied or served by retail”, and the person serving it “is taken to be a staff member”. So, for cl 63, the person pouring at such a promotion is treated as staff, and the card rule applies to them.
How long an endorsement lasts
Under cl 73(1), and subject to cl 73(2), an endorsement expires on the fifth anniversary of the issue of the interim certificate it was based on. Once renewed, it expires on the fifth anniversary of the date it would otherwise have expired; an RSA endorsement renewed by completing a licensee training course runs to the fifth anniversary of the interim certificate behind the licensee endorsement. Among the rules in cl 73(2), “an RSA endorsement expires if an RCG endorsement on the same recognised competency card expires (and vice versa)”.
VICThe approved program
Victoria’s rule is in s 108AB of the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998, and it applies to four kinds of licence only: a general licence, an on-premises licence, a packaged liquor licence and a late night licence.
Under those licences, the duty is the licensee’s. The licensee has to make sure that each person who sells, offers for sale or serves liquor on its licensed premises has done an approved responsible service of alcohol program, at one of two points: in the 3 years before the day that person first sells, offers for sale or serves liquor there, or within one month after that day.
Maximum penalty: 60 penalty units (s 108AB(2)).
Section 108AC adds the refresher, for the same four licences. The licensee has to make sure each of those people does an approved program again within 3 years of the date they last finished one.
Maximum penalty: 60 penalty units (s 108AC(2)).
QLDThe certificate on file
Queensland writes the rule into the licence itself. Section 141C(1) of the Liquor Act 1992 reads: “It is a condition of the licensee’s licence that each of the following persons must have a current training course certificate”, and the persons are the licensee, “if the licensee is an individual”, and “a member of staff of the licensed premises who is involved in the service or supply of liquor at the premises”.
The Act’s own examples of staff involved in the service or supply of liquor are “bartenders, glass collectors, floor hostesses or room service staff”.
For a person who joins the staff after the section began, the staff condition does not apply until 30 days after they join (s 141C(2)). Subject to that, s 141C(3) makes it a condition of the licence that the licensee must “keep a copy of the training course certificates” held by those people and “make each copy kept under paragraph (a) available for inspection by an investigator at the premises”.
Reading the three together
Each rule is tied to a licence or to licensed premises, so the first question for any bar is which state it is pouring in, and under whose licence.