Tuesday, 18 March 2025

Liquor regulation

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (23:59): (1506) My adjournment is for the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, and the action I seek is for the minister to review online marketing, purchasing and delivery controls within the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998. The way alcohol is marketed and sold is outpacing our liquor act and regulatory controls. Alcohol companies are engaging in predatory marketing practices that are greatly exacerbating already unacceptably high alcohol-related harms in our communities. Increasingly, marketing online, on social media platforms and elsewhere, is taking advantage of people’s data to target ads to those who are already vulnerable to drinking harms, like the direct targeting of people who have already ordered a significant amount of alcohol online and are therefore more likely to be at risk of problematic use, or even more sinisterly, those who use search engines to find information about alcohol detox support. Their ads ramp up over certain times of year: summer, sporting events and other holidays. They use push notifications and so-called special offers to prompt people to buy more. They include direct-to-buy links, usually through delivery services which can deliver alcohol to a person’s home in under 15 minutes.

In 2023, Kathleen Arnold was tragically found dead in her Heidelberg home as a result of alcohol poisoning. She was just 30 years old. The coroner’s investigation into her death found that she had bought 319 alcohol-based products via delivery services in the six months before her death. The coroner recommended a curfew on alcohol deliveries and a 2-hour delay between orders. These recommendations mirror similar findings handed down by the rapid review of prevention approaches to end gender-based violence set up in response to the alarming number of domestic homicides last year. As part of the review, recommendations were made for state governments to strengthen alcohol laws by limiting alcohol sales, delivery timeframes and advertising. While each state and territory is to review their liquor laws in line with the review’s recommendations, only South Australia has commenced this process so far, with draft legislation released earlier this year. Stakeholders have heard nothing from the Victorian government. Alcohol is a critical driver of domestic violence and yet despite lots of words from this Labor government indicating they want to stop family violence, we have essentially seen no acknowledgement of the role that alcohol plays or any appetite to do anything about it. Online alcohol advertising, purchasing and delivery is posing serious health and safety risks for the community. There have now been two significant calls for the liquor regulations to be overhauled. When will the Victorian government take action?