New Alcohol Laws Empowering Parents and Protecting Young People in SA

As the largest provider of alcohol and other drug education in South Australia, and a key voice for the safety of young people, Encounter Youth are really pleased about the implementation of new alcohol laws on the 18 December 2017.

Encounter Youth has been advocating for this law change for many years and it now brings SA in line with all other states in Australia in providing protections for minors around alcohol consumption.

From December 18 2017, minors will not be able to be provided alcohol without the permission of their parents or primary caregivers.

Encounter Youth Education Manager, Dr Andrew Scholefield said, “The new laws will lift the responsibility of those supervising young people and will give more support and authority to parents to know what’s happening when their young people are outside of their primary care.”

“We know that many party hosts are already having open, honest conversations with invitees and their caregivers about alcohol, and we hope that these law changes will make these types of conversations even more common.”

“The changes to the law will empower parents to have a legal basis to enquire about the provision of alcohol on private premises and give them the opportunity to set limits or decline provision to their young person altogether,” Dr Scholefield said.

“Research shows that introducing alcohol at a young age increases a person’s risk of having a harmful relationship with alcohol later in life and can limit the capacity of their brain to develop to its full potential.”

“We encourage parents to delay their young person’s introduction and use of alcohol for as long as possible and the new laws give them greater opportunity to do this effectively,” said Dr Scholefield.

Encounter Youth will continue to provide education to young people and their parents in 2018 and will include information about the new laws and the new responsibilities that supervisors will need to consider.

“We’re looking forward to working with the current and future government after the next election to ensure that parents and young people are aware of these changes and what it means for them.” Dr Scholefield said.