In 2023, the NSW Government introduced a comprehensive package of reforms through the 24 Hour Economy Legislation Amendment (Vibrancy Reforms) Act 2023.
Most of these reforms commenced on 12 December 2023. However, several of the more complex reforms and those that involved significant systems changes and consultation with stakeholders prior to implementation commence on 1 July 2024.
The reforms are part of the NSW Government’s Vibrancy Reforms, which aim to encourage the return of music, live performance, local street life and a vibrant night-time economy that doesn’t come at the expense of safety.
The following information highlights the key changes commencing on 1 July 2024. You can read it all or click on the headings that interest you.
The Vibrancy Reforms will designate Liquor & Gaming NSW (L&GNSW) as the lead regulator for noise and disturbance complaints associated with licensed venues. The reforms will see a streamlined regulatory approach to sound management.
The mechanism to lodge noise and disturbance complaints against licensed venues will still exist to protect the amenity of the local community. However, under the reforms, the statutory disturbance complaint framework and thresholds have been strengthened to ensure all complaints are valid and reasonable.
Under the reforms, key changes to the statutory disturbance complaint framework include:
Guidelines setting out the matters that L&GNSW may consider when making a decision about a statutory disturbance complaint will be available from 1 July 2024.
Importantly, licensed premises will be exempt from noise pollution laws if the venue is operating in accordance with its liquor licence and the Liquor Act. However, to ensure noise from licensed premises can be addressed, including where an immediate response is required, an improvement notice can be issued by NSW Police or L&GNSW in certain circumstances. These notices can include a direction for noise to cease.
For more information, please visit the reforms to the regulation of venue sound management webpage.
The process for liquor licence applications will be streamlined. The changes are part of efforts to modernise the liquor licensing systems, reduce costs and make it quicker and easier for licensed businesses in NSW to start, grow and diversify, while managing the risk of alcohol-related harm and making it easier for the community to have their say.
The primary change to the application process is to remove the 30-day pre-lodgement consultation period and move to a single community consultation model facilitated primarily via the L&GNSW noticeboard.
This new process removes the need for stakeholders to provide feedback on the same licensing proposal at two different points in the licensing process and gives the Authority the ability to see all stakeholder submissions unfiltered by an applicant.
Applicants will no longer be mandated to conduct community consultation prior to lodging an application with L&GNSW, although community consultation is encouraged.
Certain applications will be required to be accompanied by a Statement of Risks and Potential Effects (SoRPE), when the application is lodged with L&GNSW. The SoRPE captures similar content to the previous Community Impact Statement. Generally, for applications that previously required a Category A or Category B CIS, a SoRPE will be required.
A SoRPE will be used as an additional tool to assist the Authority in determining the risks and potential effect of applications.
For more information, please visit the consultation reforms webpage.
When a hotel that schedules live music or arts and cultural events applies for an extended trading authorisation, the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority must give due weight to the strong positive social impact associated with hosting these events.
Certain criteria will apply, including live music or arts and cultural events being part of the venue’s regular business activities, the venue being required to hold 2 events on different days in a 7-day period, and scheduling the performances after 8pm for 45 minutes or more. Gaming machines cannot be operated during the extended trading period.
Note that the proposed extended trading hours must be permitted under the licensed premises development consent.
Further information on how to apply will be provided in June 2024.
Restaurants and small bars will be allowed to apply for an authorisation that allows them to sell a limited amount of liquor for takeaway and home delivery.
Under the authorisation, purchases must be with food and each customer’s order limited to –
For a licensed restaurant:
For a small bar:
Licensed restaurants and small bars (including those that are currently selling takeaway or home delivery under L&GNSW’s relaxed enforcement approach taken during COVID-19) will have 6 months to apply for the authorisation.
The application fee will be waivered for the first 6 months until 31 December 2024.
After 31 December 2024 it will be unlawful for licensed premises to sell takeaway or home delivery liquor without an authorisation.
Former licensees with a licensee endorsement expiry date within the last 3 years will now be able to renew their Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) or Licensee endorsement by completing Licensee Training only.
Prior to the NSW Government’s Vibrancy Reforms, licensees were required to complete both the RSA and Licensee training course as the only pathway to renewing their expired endorsements.
Further information on how to apply can be found on the Licensee and Advanced Licensee Training page.
In December 2023, the Vibrancy Reforms Act introduced new requirements around minors in bottle shops and areas dedicated to the sale of takeaway liquor.
From 1 July, licensees will be required to ensure there is adequate signage for the new requirements.
Unaccompanied minors are now prohibited from entering or remaining in;
A responsible adult must also not leave a minor unaccompanied in these areas.
The restriction does not capture situations where:
Certain venues may be eligible to apply for an exemption from this restriction and/or and for minors to be able to work in the licensed premises.
Depending on the type of business, the licensed premises may display either 3L or 9L signage.
The use of this signage has been included in the:
Yes. As of 1 July, displaying the signage will be mandatory under the Liquor Regulation 2018.
The sign must be located in an area where it would inform a person entering the area that persons under the age of 18 years in the area must, by law, be in the company of a responsible adult.
For more information, please visit the minors in licensed venues webpage.
As of 1 July, interstate digital driver licences (DDLs) will be recognised as a relevant evidence of age document in NSW. Several states in Australia have now produced digital driver licences in their own jurisdiction, which can be stored in an app on a person’s phone or device. As many people only carry digital driver licences and do not carry their physical driver licence with them, allowing people to produce their digital driver licences as a relevant evidence of age document will be a more efficient and effective way of checking a person’s age, particularly in circumstances where they are not in possession of their physical ID.
The standard trading period for consumption on premises on Sundays has been changed to be 5am to midnight on all days of the week, meaning Sunday standard trading hours is the same as every other day of the week.
This new standard trading period does not override existing liquor trading times on individual liquor licences, and the standard six-hour closure period will still apply.
Any venue seeking to change their trading times on their liquor licence so they can trade during the new Sunday standard trading period will need to apply to have their hours amended. This can be done through a change of conditions application to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
To apply for a change of liquor licence conditions, please complete this application form.
The standard trading period for small bars has been changed so that it will commence at 10am.
Any venue seeking to change their trading times on their liquor licence so they can trade during the new standard trading period will need to apply to have their hours amended. This can be done, through a change of conditions application to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
For more information please visit the Small bar licence webpage.
Hotels are now able to apply for extended trading between midnight on Sunday and 5am on Monday morning like other venues and other nights of the week.
To apply for an extended trading authorisation, please complete this application form.
For more information please visit the Hotel licence webpage.
Changes have been made to allow live music and performance venues to trade for an additional 2 hours. This extended trading incentive will only be available on nights where venues are hosting live music or other arts and cultural events, and the development consent for the venue permits the extended trading.
To qualify for the incentive, venues must have a specific live performance space, hold two live music or other arts and cultural events on different days in a 7-day period and schedule the performances after 8pm for 45 minutes or more.
Live music and live performance venues also receive an 80% reduction on annual base fee and trading hours risk loading each year.
To apply to be on the list of live music and performance venues, please complete this application.
For more information including record keeping requirements, please visit the Incentives for live music and performance venues webpage.
Participating venues inside Special Entertainment Precincts will be permitted to trade an extra 60 minutes on all days of the week, and 2 hours on nights where venues are hosting live music venues.
To qualify for this incentive, venues must hold two live music or other arts and cultural events on different days in a 7-day period and schedule the performances after 8pm for 45 minutes or more.
Venues that are located within a Special Entertainment Precinct will be contacted by Liquor & Gaming NSW to receive the incentives.
The list of eligible venues able to participate in special event extended trading has been expanded to include small bars, general bars and live music and performance venues. This list was previously limited to hotels and registered clubs.
Special event extended trading does not permit the use of gaming machines if they were not already able to be operated without the special event extended trading.
Special events are events that are determined by the Minister to be of regional, State or national significance.
Not all licences may be able to participate in every special event extended trading period, relevant licences will be designated and informed of the extended trading prior to the event.
These trading extensions do not affect takeaway alcohol trading times. Individual trading restrictions or other special conditions that apply to a venue’s liquor licence also remain in place for these events.
Special events are published on the Liquor & Gaming NSW website.
A special event limited licence can now be granted if the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority is satisfied that an event is infrequent or temporary, and is genuine and in the public interest, having regard to the objects of the Liquor Act 2007.
To apply for a special event limited licence, complete this application form.
For more information, please visit the Limited licence - special event webpage.
Arrangements to allow outdoor dining on private land will be made permanent. This means licensees will continue to have permanent access to a faster and more cost-effective pathway instead of having to complete a development application. All existing temporary liquor boundary change for outdoor spaces on private land and registered clubs will continue indefinitely if the land use is exempt development.
New applications for liquor boundary changes for outdoor spaces will now be able to propose an increase to the patron capacity so long as the increase is not inconsistent with the development consent or exempt provisions.
The Department of Planning and Environment recently released for public consultation a new complying development pathway to make outdoor dining permanent for patrons and businesses using private areas such as courtyards or bowling greens for dining. Consultation on the requirements has closed and they are being refined following public feedback which called for improvements to protect neighbour’s amenity and patron safety.
For more information including how to apply for outdoor dining, please visit the outdoor dining webpage.
Councils can continue to approve outdoor dining and performance on roads and footpaths without requiring approval from NSW Government.
Councils will now have the ongoing power to allow outdoor spaces in their local government areas, by streamlining councils’ consultation requirements under various pieces of NSW legislation.
Changes have been made to the producer/wholesaler licence to enable them to grow and diversify their offerings. The changes allow producers to:
These changes ensure all NSW liquor producers can run multiple premises under the one licence provided the sites are in reasonable proximity, and are:
Producers that want to operate multiple premises under the one licence will need to apply for a change of boundaries for the existing licence to extend the licence boundary and add the new address through the liquor licence manager.
For more information, visit the producer/wholesaler licence webpage.
Any natural person may make a submission or complaint under the Liquor Act, regarding a liquor licence application or an application to vary or revoke a liquor licence condition. Changes mean that an individual’s ability to make a submission to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority cannot be prohibited by any contract or agreement made.
For more information on how to make a submission to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, please see this factsheet.
Contract caterers on club premises can now sell alcohol under a club’s liquor licence, subject to appropriate controls. The definition of “employee” in the Liquor Act has been expanded to include contract caterers and their employees, only for the purposes of enabling them to sell liquor under the club’s licence.
Contract staff selling or serving liquor under the club’s licence will be required to hold a recognised competency card or RSA.
Alcohol-free products are now able to be sold at licensed and unlicensed premises. This change allows non-alcoholic products labelled or promoted as ‘beer or spirits’ to be sold without a liquor licence.
These products should never be promoted in ways that could be considered to have special appeal to minors or pose significant risk to public safety and community wellbeing. In these circumstances, regulatory action could be taken in line with the NSW Liquor Promotion Guidelines.
Clubs that had unrestricted trading prior to 1 July 2008 will no longer be disadvantaged by moving to a new premises, as long as that premises is similar to their current location.
Clubs must meet certain criteria to retain their unrestricted trading, including that they must only move from a “like to like” premises.
For example, clubs moving to premises with the same zoning requirements and within five kilometres of their current premises will not be required to give up their unrestricted trading licence.
Clubs will still need to apply to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority to retain unrestricted trading.
This application process will require the club to consult with the NSW Police Force and the local community, as well as meeting the requirements of the development application process.
For more information, please see the Club licence webpage.
Incident register requirements have been changed to require any incident required to be entered into a register to be done as soon as is practicable or within 24 hours of the incident. These changes provide a clear timeframe for incidents to be registered and allows for timely investigations.
This change will support a more effective investigation or remedial action following an incident.
For more information, please visit the incident register webpage.
Liquor & Gaming NSW is now able to give a licensee under gaming and liquor legislation, or an employee or agent, a written direction about any matter relating to the licensed premises, including conduct on the licensed premises, or the supervision or control of the licensed premises.
A licensee, employee or agent to whom a direction is given must not, without reasonable excuse, fail to comply with the direction.
Maximum penalty—100 penalty units.
The new improvement notice framework will give licensees the opportunity to fix breaches and compliance issues before escalated action is taken.
Improvement notices will work as remedial enforcement action and support an improvement-focused approach to minor breaches, in addition to the existing enforcement options that are available.
An improvement notice may be issued by Liquor & Gaming NSW to a licensee, or an employee or agent, in relation to a contravention of the Liquor Act or regulations (except for demerit offences), or about any other matter relating to the licensed premises.
The improvement notice will include a direction about the action that must be taken by the relevant person to rectify the contravention of the Act and the date by which the rectification must occur.
Licensed premises can continue trading during the period given to satisfy the improvement notice. This provides a cooperative and continuous-improvement approach to compliance.
Further guidance material on improvement notices is currently being developed and will be published at a later stage.
Liquor & Gaming NSW may now impose an enforceable undertaking as an alternative to prosecution through the courts.
An enforceable undertaking is a legally binding agreement between Liquor & Gaming NSW and a licensee. The licensee is required to carry out the specific activities in the undertaking.
Through an enforceable undertaking, Liquor & Gaming NSW may require a licensee to give an undertaking to do, or refrain from doing something if the licensee has breached the Liquor Act, or if it is reasonably believed the licensee has breached the Act. Liquor & Gaming NSW may also invite a licensee to give an enforceable undertaking to prevent a risk of potential harm.
Disciplinary action may not be taken in relation to the breach or alleged breach while the enforceable undertaking is in place.
Failure to comply with the enforceable undertaking may be certified with the Supreme Court, who may punish the licensee as if the licensee were in contempt of Court and/or order the licensee to comply with the enforceable undertaking.
Further guidance material on enforceable undertaking is currently being developed and will be published at a later stage.
The requirement for ID scanners to be used for venues in prescribed precincts under the Liquor Act 2007 has been removed. If businesses still wish to voluntarily use ID Scanners, they may do so.
Any licensee who currently has a Privacy Endorsement, required for the operation of ID scanners, will retain the Endorsement on their competency card.
Precinct-based venue fees in the Kings Cross and Sydney CBD Entertainment precincts have been removed. This means that venues in those areas will be subject to the same fees as the rest of NSW. Precinct-based fees already paid will not be refunded.
For more information, please visit the annual liquor licensing fees webpage.
The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority may now revoke a person’s RSA in certain high-risk situations where the person has been charged with, or found guilty of, a serious indictable offence involving violence that was:
Changes have also been made to allow the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority to immediately suspend a person’s RSA as soon as the notice has been provided to the person, while a formal determination is made on the revocation or permanently disqualify a person from holding a recognised competency card or a particular recognised competency card endorsement, or for a period specified (rather than previous limit 12-month maximum disqualification period).
Changes to the Liquor Act clarify existing requirements and ensure a responsible person from a licenced venue cannot:
The reforms will prevent credit cards and debit cards being misused in order to give a person cash to gamble. Venues will be required to record when money is being provided to a person, as part of a transaction using a credit card or a debit card, or when extending other forms of credit to a person on licensed premises.
The Vibrancy Reform package includes a number of other reforms to the NSW Liquor licensing framework that will commence throughout 2024. More information on these individual reforms items will be included closer to the date of commencement.
You can contact Liquor & Gaming NSW if you would like more information about the changes.
