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59
Policing provisions of liquor licensing laws
That Police Services use every endeavour to police the provisions of Licensing Acts which make it an offence to serve intoxicated persons.
Aboriginal Justice Caucus Assessment
The intent of Recommendation 59 was to ensure police enforce laws that make it an offence to serve alcohol to intoxicated persons to ensure publicans are accountable for their actions.
Actions taken align with the intent of Recommendation 59. Under the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 (Vic) it is an offence for the holder of a liquor licence or permit to serve a person who is intoxicated. In 2022, it also became an offence to deliver liquor to a person who is intoxicated.
Liquor Control Victoria inspectors work in partnership with Victoria Police and have similar powers to enforce liquor laws. They monitor and enforce the requirements of this Act by ensuring that licensees operate within the law. Police enforcement activities are undertaken by the State Liquor Unit, divisional licensing teams in high-risk areas, and local licensing inspectors through covert and overt surveillance.
There is evidence that the general enforcement of liquor licensing laws has improved in Victoria, but little information about the impacts on Aboriginal communities, particularly in terms of harm reduction or licensee accountability.
Recommendation 59 remains relevant given our concerns about racism, and lack of accountability for harm caused to our people and communities. Further implementation might reduce some of this harm if enforcement focuses on the accountability of licensees rather than penalising patrons.
Priority for Further Work:
Low
Relevance and potential impact | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low (0-2) | Moderate (3-4) | High (5-6) | |||
Extent of action taken and evidence of outcomes | High (5-6) | ||||
Moderate (3-4) | |||||
Low (0-2) | |||||
Background
That Police Services use every endeavour to police the provisions of Licensing Acts which make it an offence to serve intoxicated persons.
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) identified systemic concerns regarding the relationship between licensed premises and police in regional and remote communities. In smaller towns, frequent interactions between police and hotel staff, particularly in response to alcohol-related incidents, often resulted in perceived alliances between publicans and law enforcement. This perception was reinforced by a pattern of police inaction in response to hotels serving alcohol to already intoxicated Aboriginal patrons, despite this constituting an offence. The Commission noted that these practices contributed to community grievances, particularly regarding the unequal enforcement of liquor laws and the perception that publicans benefited economically while avoiding accountability.
Actions Taken Since Last Review
Victorian Auditor General’s Office
A 2017 Victorian Auditor-General’s audit found that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) was not adequately monitoring compliance with liquor laws, with compliance activities lacking a risk-based focus. While information sharing with Victoria Police was effective, a joint enforcement strategy was recommended to improve coordination. VCGLR piloted intelligence-led inspections and refocused its risk and intelligence functions, producing reports and mapping tools to better target high-risk venues. A 2019 follow-up audit confirmed that VCGLR had implemented improvements and strengthened its approach.
Guidelines published by the Commission were reviewed in consultation with Victoria Police, and the then Department of Justice and Regulation. Revised guidelines were published on the VCGLR website.
The Victorian Liquor Commission
The Victorian Liquor Commission delivers licensing, investigative, disciplinary and other regulatory functions under the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 and regulations relating to the supply and consumption of liquor in Victoria.
Since July 2022, it has been responsible for the regulation of liquor. The Victorian Liquor Commission together with staff from the Department of Justice and Community Safety that support its functions are called Liquor Control Victoria (LCV).
Liquor Control Victoria
Divisions of LCV cover licensing, compliance and enforcement, and legal, policy and harm minimisation. LCV inspectors check licensed venues in Victoria to ensure licensees follow their liquor licence conditions and rules in the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998. Inspections may occur at any time, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. Inspectors issue fines when a licensee or a staff member breaks the liquor law.
LCV inspectors have the power to:
- enter and inspect licensed venues or stores
- request that licensees and their staff answer questions and provide information, documents, records and equipment
- seize items as evidence
- request proof of age and seize liquor from a minor
- issue infringement notices
- enter a private home if they have a search warrant, or if the home is situated on the licensed premises and the inspector has prior consent from the licensee to enter.
LCV operates in conjunction with Victoria Police, allowing the police to focus on the most serious examples of breaking liquor laws and areas where known issues of violence and antisocial behaviour have occurred. LCV inspectors work in partnership with Victoria Police and have similar powers to enforce liquor laws.
LCV and Victoria Police both assessed Recommendation 59 as fully implemented in 2023.
Victoria Police
Enforcement is carried out by the State Liquor Unit, Local Area Commanders (Licensing Inspectors), Police Service Area licensing portfolio holders and divisional licensing units.
Introduced in 2013, the Victoria Police Manual Guidelines (VPMG) Policing Licensed Premises articulate the role of Victoria Police, which is to monitor and enforce the requirements of the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 by ensuring licensees operate within the law. These guidelines provide a framework for policing licensed premises with the aim of reducing alcohol related violence and public disorder associated with licensed premises in Victoria. To be successful, the framework requires collaborative partnerships between government agencies, licensed premises and Police Service Areas.
Divisional licensing units
In the high-risk Police Service Areas of Geelong, Melbourne, Prahran and Yarra, divisional licencing units have been formed. All these units, as well as the State Liquor Unit, perform specialist enforcement activities within licensed premises to identify the service of liquor to intoxicated persons
State Liquor Unit
This unit has operated since 2008 with the aim of providing:
…an intelligence driven specialist response to reduce alcohol related violence and disorder associated with licensed premises through partnerships, early intervention and enforcement of liquor licensing and related provisions.
The State Liquor Unit targets the operation and management of licensed premises through overt and covert policing techniques. It analyses intelligence to identify venues linked to alcohol-related harm and prioritizes enforcement accordingly. Small teams conduct general and targeted operations under the Liquor Control Reform Act and Private Security Act, covertly monitoring venues to detect high-risk behaviour and unsafe practices, which then guide enforcement actions.
Impact
Outputs
Structural and procedural reforms support enforcement of liquor laws. Victoria Police undertakes enforcement through the State Liquor Unit, divisional licensing units and local licensing inspectors. The Victoria Police Manual Guidelines – Policing Licensed Premises. were introduced to provide a clear framework for reducing alcohol-related harm through intelligence-led, covert, and overt enforcement.
The VCGLR strengthened its compliance approach through piloting intelligence-led inspections, refocusing its risk and intelligence unit and producing monthly risk reports. These were supported by mapping tools and the use of police and ambulance data to better identify and monitor high-risk venues.
In 2022 a new offence was added to the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 making it unlawful to deliver alcohol to an intoxicated person.
Outcomes
Victorian Auditor General’s Office
In 2017, the Victorian Auditor-General tabled the Regulating Gambling and Liquor audit report in the Victorian Parliament. The audit examined the actions of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (the independent statutory authority that regulated Victoria's gambling and liquor industries at the time), Victoria Police and the former Department of Justice and Regulation.
The audit found that VCGLR was not adequately monitoring compliance with liquor legislation. Compliance activities were not sufficiently risk-based and failed to target inspections to areas of high risk or high potential for harm. The audit noted VCGLR had formal and informal relationships with Victoria Police that led to effective information sharing, however there was a need for VCGLR and Victoria Police to develop a joint enforcement strategy to better coordinate enforcement activities.
The audit noted the VCGLR’s 2015 Intoxication Pilot Program which used intelligence to target licensed venues suspected of serving intoxicated patrons for covert inspections. The results showed that although venues appeared to be well targeted, inspectors were sometimes hampered in making covert observations by the need to identify themselves to gain entry to some venues, or by being recognised by venue staff.
At the beginning of 2016, VCGLR refocused its risk and intelligence unit. It began to collect intelligence and produce a range of reports on issues and risks in the community that could be used to inform the targeting of compliance activities, including monthly risk reports to the director of compliance. These reports were supported by data from past compliance activities and data from Victoria Police.
VCGLR took other actions to review and improve its practices, making them more risk based, including producing a range of maps that:
- identify venues and high-risk venues not inspected within 12 months, recent licence transfers and recidivism of licensees
- show data from Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria on assaults and ambulance callouts mapped against the location of licensed venues.
A follow up audit (tabled in Parliament in 2019) focused on whether the VCGLR had implemented the 13 recommendations made in the 2017 audit. It found that the VCGLR had reviewed and improved its compliance activities.
Actions taken have focused on general harm reduction and venue compliance. Community perspectives on whether these enforcement activities ensure greater accountability of liquor licenses, particularly in regional areas with relatively large Aboriginal populations, could not be found.