Introduce test purchasing and strengthen age checks to prevent the sale of alcohol to children
- ACV Admin
- Jan 20, 2025
- 4 min read
Key takeaways
> Alcohol is a harmful product and children are especially vulnerable to its harms, including developmental delays, addiction, toxicity, and death.
> While it is unlawful to supply alcohol to minors, a lack of test purchasing and age checks by retailers enables the sale of alcohol to minors.
> The purchase of alcohol by minors should be decriminalised and Liquor Control Victoria empowered to conduct regular test purchasing to enforce compliance with the law, penalties strengthened for retailers that break it, ID checks for online alcohol sales mandated, and age estimation technology at point of sale for packaged liquor outlets considered.
Alcohol is harming Victorian children
Children who use alcohol are exposed to a range of harms:
Alcohol use that begins at a younger age is associated with heavier drinking and increased risk of alcohol dependence later in life.¹
Alcohol is also detrimental to brain development, with negative effects on memory, attention, psychomotor speed, cognitive control, IQ, and academic performance.²
Alcohol use by young people is also associated with increased crime rates.³
Lack of test purchasing and age checks are driving alcohol sales to minors
It is a crime to sell alcohol to children.⁴ Test purchasing is when an underage person, under supervision, attempts to buy alcohol to check if retailers are complying with the law. But the absence of legislation that supports test purchasing means the regulator is currently unable to effectively enforce the law.
Victoria Police can conduct ‘controlled operations’ , which allow them to conduct unlawful activity to investigate criminal activity.⁵ However, they are understandably reluctant to do so for test purchasing as it would require an underage person who is not a member of Victoria Police to break the law.⁶ The regulator is also arguably better placed to undertake test purchasing compliance checks, but is likewise currently prevented from doing so by law.
Regarding age checks, best practice guidelines advise staff to ask anyone who looks under the age of 25 for ID before selling them alcohol.⁷ Yet many retailers are selling alcohol to children without checking for ID. Research in 2017 found that people who looked underage were able to buy alcohol at packaged liquor outlets 60% of the time.⁸ Despite this, between 2016 and 2022 only two fines were issued to packaged liquor outlet licensees for underage supply.⁹
Test purchasing and stronger age checks are needed to protect children
In addition to preventing test purchasing, the current offence for children to purchase alcohol¹⁰ is inconsistent with the Victorian Government’s decriminalisation of public intoxication and commitment to a public health approach to harmful alcohol use. It is not unlawful for under 18s to purchase tobacco, but it is unlawful for retailers to sell tobacco to minors. Alcohol should be treated the same way as tobacco.
Penalties for supply of alcohol to minors by licensees and BYO permittees should also be strengthened, bringing them in line with penalties for the supply of tobacco to minors where fines can be as high as 600 penalty units, or $122,106.¹¹ By comparison, the penalty incurred for the supply of alcohol to minors is currently only 120 penalty units, or $24,421.¹²
Digital ID checks for online alcohol sales should be mandatory, and age estimation technology at physical outlets should also be explored. The latter could be done using age estimation devices at sales counters that indicate when staff must check ID because someone appears under the age of 25. Such devices are relatively affordable and capable of assessing someone’s likely age without identifying them, ensuring both children and privacy are protected.
Recommendations
Empower Liquor Control Victoria to conduct regular test purchasing compliance checks on alcohol retailers to ensure they are not supplying alcohol to minors.
Repeal section 123, subsections 1(a) and 1(b) from the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998, so people under the age of 18 are not criminalised for the possession or purchase of alcohol, and make any other legislative amendments necessary to enable the regulator to conduct test purchasing.
Strengthen penalties for retailers found to be selling alcohol to minors, including increased fines and temporary store closures.
Require alcohol companies to verify the age of people they sell alcohol to online through digital ID checks.
Consider the use of age estimation technology at point of sale on packaged liquor premises (i.e. age estimation devices at sales counters in liquor stores that indicate when staff need to check ID).
References
1 Christine McCauley Ohannessian et al, ‘A Long-Term Longitudinal Examination of the Effect of Early Onset of Alcohol and Drug use on Later Alcohol Abuse’ (2015) 36(4) Substance Use & Addiction Journal 440; Soundarya Soundararajan et al, ‘Relation Between Age at First Alcohol Drink & Adult Life Drinking Patterns in Alcohol-Dependent Patients’ (2017) 146(5) Indian Journal of Medical Research 606; Lars Sjödin, Jonas Raninen and Peter Larm, ‘Early Drinking Onset and Subsequent Alcohol Use in Late Adolescence: a Longitudinal Study of Drinking Patterns’ (2024) 74(6) Journal of Adolescent Health 1225, 1228.
2 Lindsay Squeglia and Kevin Gray, ‘Alcohol and Drug Use and the Developing Brain’ (2016) 18(46) Current Psychiatry Reports 1; Louise Hjarnaa et al, ‘Alcohol Intake and Academic Performance and Dropout in High School: A Prospective Cohort Study in 65,233 Adolescents’ (2023) 73(6) Journal of Adolescent Health 1083.
3 Bosco Rowland et al, ‘Evaluation of Communities That Care—Effects on Municipal Youth Crime Rates in Victoria, Australia: 2010–2019’ (2021) 23 (October) Prevention Science 24.
4 Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 (Vic) s 119(1)-(2).
5 ‘Controlled Operations Reports’, Integrity Oversight Victoria (Web Page, 10 February 2025) <https://www.integrityoversight.vic.gov.au/controlled-operations-reports-integrity-oversight-victoria>.
6 Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 (Vic) s 123(1)(a)-(b).
7 Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, A Guide to the Responsible Service of Alcohol (Guide) 25 <https://www.itfe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/rsa_vic_workbook_final.pdf?>.
8 Bosco Rowland et al, ‘Underage Purchasing of Alcohol From Packaged Liquor Outlets: An Australian Study’ (2017) 32(5) Health Promotion International 790.
9 Data request obtained from Liquor Control Victoria.
10 Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 (Vic) s 123(1)(a)-(b).
11 Tobacco Act 1987 (Vic) s 12.
12 Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 (Vic) s 119(1).
