A hotel in NSW’s Riverina region is the first venue to have its trading suspended, under tough new liquor laws introduced by the state government to cut the supply of alcohol to minors.
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After considering a long history of poor practice and serial breaches, the NSW government has forced the Royal Hotel in Temora to close for 28 days from 5am on Monday June 1.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Justice Troy Grant said the NSW Government has zero tolerance for licensees supplying alcohol to minors.
“Selling alcohol to minors is illegal – there are no exceptions,” Mr Grant said.
“Over the past eight years the hotel in question has racked up 11 breaches including four incidents of selling to minors.
“Licensed premises must ask for ID – if they show disregard for the rules and serve minors we will throw the book at them.
“Our new laws have ensured we can now deal with serial offenders appropriately.”
Since late last year, the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) has audited 515 licensed premises as part of a blitz to crack down on the supply of alcohol to minors. These audits detected 31 juvenile related offences, many of them occurring at bottle shops.
“Supplying takeaway alcohol to minors is especially concerning as it often involves higher quantities and is consumed in an unsupervised environment,” Mr Grant said.
“The NSW Liberals & Nationals will continue to work with industry to ensure community expectations are met.
The new laws came into effect last December and allow the termination or suspension of a liquor license for up to 28 days for convictions of serving alcohol to minors.
For more information on the Government’s liquor reforms please visit the OLGR website: http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/news_liquor_act_review_reforms.as
