CEQ nutrition and health manager Melinda Hammond said the QCAT decision reflects strong community support and expert advice. Photo: Supplied.
Remote supermarket operator Community Enterprise Queensland (CEQ) has welcomed a decision that allows it to restrict the sale of zero or alcohol-like drinks to persons under the age of 18 in its stores across Cape York and the Torres Strait.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) decision applies for the next five years and permits CEQ to restrict sales of alcohol-like drinks to adults only, place signage in stores advising that these products are not for sale to minors, and request photo identification where there is doubt about a customer’s age.
The decision also applies to CEQ’s Doomadgee and Palm Island stores.
With many of the products often packaged and marketed in a way that closely resembles their alcoholic counterparts, CEQ nutrition and health manager Melinda Hammond said the judgment reflected strong community support and expert advice.
“This outcome reflects the strong feedback we received from our communities, where parents, Elders and young people themselves told us these products should not be available to children,” she said.
“By putting these restrictions in place, CEQ is taking a precautionary and proactive step to protect the health and wellbeing of children in the communities we serve.”
In making her judgment, QCAT senior member Samantha Traves acknowledged “[t]o permit CEQ to refuse to sell them (minors) no or low alcohol drinks is to discriminate against them on the basis of their age”.
“I am prepared to accept, although the evidence is limited, that there are potential risks to minors if the sale of these products is not restricted,” she said.
“I am satisfied that the sale of the products may act as an encouragement to minors to seek the consumption of alcohol products with similar branding and marketing.
“I also accept that the sale of the products may normalise drinking among young people and promote a culture of alcohol consumption.”
Of the 85 stakeholders CEQ consulted as part of its QCAT submission, 84 supported restricting sales of alcohol-like drinks to minors.
