Bendigo Community Health Services is urging takeaway liquor outlets to recognise their responsibility not to serve alcohol to people under the age of 18.
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The organisations latest supply monitoring audit, which involved a number of people appearing 'underage' visiting 30 Bendigo outlets to purchase alcohol without identification, uncovered a number of alarming findings.
BCHS health promotion and community engagement officer Valerie Nkala said while there were still too many outlets selling alcohol without asking for identification, BCHS did note improvement from the last audit.
"We are seeing more outlets asking for identification in this cycle compared to the pre-intervention stage in 2021," she said.
The audit of Bendigo outlets found:
- 11 sold alcohol without first asking for ID
- One sold alcohol even after the purchaser said they did not have ID
- 18 outlets asked for ID and refused to sell if the purchaser didn't have any
- 29 per cent of chain outlets sold alcohol without asking for ID
- 67 per cent of independent outlets sold alcohol without asking for ID
- 70 per cent of franchise outlets sold alcohol without asking for ID
- 76 per cent of audited stores were almost empty at the time of purchase, and of the 23 per cent quite busy outlets 43 per cent sold alcohol without asking for ID
Alcohol signage laws were visible in 70 per cent of the outlets audited, however 38 per cent of these did not request identification.
The 2021 pre-intervention audit saw 28 outlets visited, with 16 selling alcohol without asking for identification.
Two outlets asked for ID but still sold alcohol, while the remaining 12 outlets followed legislation and did not proceed with the sale if ID was not produced.
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"Wearing of face coverings could also explain the high number in the previous cycle, as faces were often hidden," Ms Nkala said.
"Franchise and independent stores are still falling behind, both having high numbers of stores who sold alcohol without asking for ID."
BCHS will issue letters to all outlets visited during the recent audit.
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