Committee Details

Committee Report

The committee tabled its Report No. 4, 57th Parliament - Liquor (Artisan Liquor) Amendment Bill 2020 on 12 February 2021.  The Bill was passed without amendment by the Queensland Parliament on 9 March 2021.

ABOUT The Bill

On 26 November 2020, Hon Shannon Fentiman MP, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, introduced the Liquor (Artisan Liquor) Amendment Bill 2020 (the Bill) and referred it to the Legal Affairs and Safety Committee (the committee) for detailed consideration.

The Bill amends the Liquor Act 1992 (Liquor Act) to give effect to Government commitments under the Queensland Craft Brewing Strategy (QCBS) and particular recommendations arising from the Entrepreneurial Pipeline Project Report (EP Report). Relevantly, the QCBS and the EP Report identified the need to simplify the liquor licensing process and create market access opportunities for artisan liquor producers.

View: Liquor (Artisan Liquor) Amendment Bill 2020
View: Explanatory notes
View: Explanatory speech
View: Statement of compatibility

OBJECTIVES OF THE BILL

To achieve the objective of supporting the growth and development of the Queensland artisanal liquor industry, while maintaining appropriate regulatory oversight, the Bill proposes to amend the Liquor Act to do the following:

• create a new liquor licence category for legitimate craft brewers and artisanal distillers (i.e. commercial other – artisan producer licence)
• expand the existing promotional event permit framework
• provide additional authorisations for eligible producer/wholesaler licensees
• encourage the transition of existing licensees to the new artisan producer licence category.

 Artisan producer licensees will be authorised to do the following:

• sell their own liquor products and other Queensland artisan liquor products for consumption on the premises
• sell their own liquor products for consumption off the premises
• sell their own liquor products wholesale
• sell their own liquor products online
• apply for a licence condition to sell samples and takeaway of their liquor products at promotional events, subject to volume limits
• apply for a commercial public event permit.

Harm-minimisation obligations under the Liquor Act, such as the requirement to submit a community impact statement with a licence application and develop a risk-assessed management plan, will also apply to artisan producer licensees.

Further information

Further information including written briefings from the department, the response to submissions, transcripts from proceedings and answers to questions taken on notice are under the Related Publications tab.

Timeline