Alcohol delivery restrictions revealed as SA commits to DV royal commission five-year plan

The SA government will introduce new laws to restrict the online purchase of alcohol, including a two-hour gap between order and arrival, as it announces a five-year plan to implement recommendations from its recent domestic violence royal commission.Late last year, the SA government accepted "in full, in principle or in part" 129 of the 136 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.The government said it had already "completed" responses to 12 recommendations and that work was "underway towards a further 25".Among the steps currently being undertaken is the introduction of new legislation to regulate home delivery of alcohol.The government said the reforms would be introduced to parliament this week, and would include the restriction of same-day alcohol delivery to between 10am and 10pm."A minimum two-hour safety pause will be introduced between sale and delivery," the government said.It also today committed to a five-year plan, called "Building Safer Futures", to roll out its response to the royal commission."The implementation plan is an early blueprint of how we will respond to the 63 recommendations accepted in full, 19 in part and six noted," the government said.Former senator Natasha Stott Despoja chaired the royal commission. (ABC News: Che Chorley)Premier Peter Malinauskas said the home delivery of alcohol had been taken up in the community "rather broadly" but regulation had "not kept pace with the service".He said he hoped the legislation would pass parliament before the end of the year."To be clear, people will still be able to purchase alcohol online and have it delivered to their home, but there has to be a two-hour delay between the purchase being initiated and the order being completed," he said."And then, we are curtailing the times that that can occur to 10am to 10pm in the evening, which just makes sense."It strikes me as being a reasonable proposition that the royal commission has made, and we're willing to accommodate it given the challenge that we're trying to tackle here."Pressure mounting from DV sectorThe government had been under pressure to act on alcohol delivery from the DV services sector, after the premier suggested last year that law changes could be acted on immediately after the 2026 March state election.In a December 2025 press conference, Mr Malinauskas said: "It is this government's commitment that that legislation will be introduced immediately upon the parliament sitting post-election."But the legislation has since been reviewed by new Consumer and Business Affairs Minister Michael Brown.Mr Malinauskas conceded today that "ideally it would be earlier than what it is" but noted the government was introducing immediately after the parliamentary mid-winter break."There's not any specific reason for the delay rather than making sure that we try and get it right, and we've got the systems in place in the department to institute this," he said.He added that the changes would require a "new degree of regulation and enforcement" from the state's Consumer and Business Services department."Implementing the law is one thing, making sure we've got the capacity to enforce it is another again and we've got to make sure we do both at the same time," he said.Mary Leaker says the step will "reduce harm and save lives". (ABC News: Carl Saville)The government's move was welcomed today by Embolden CEO Mary Leaker, who leads the peak body for domestic, family and sexual violence services in SA."We have clear evidence that the harmful use of alcohol exacerbates and intensifies domestic, family and sexual violence," she said at a government press conference on Tuesday."So, we know that these common sense measures will reduce harm and save lives," she said.But the reforms were condemned by Retail Drinks Australia, the industry body representing Australia's packaged retail liquor stores, which called on state parliament to reject the law changes."Domestic, family and sexual violence is a serious issue, but the SA Government has not demonstrated how forcing every South Australian to wait two hours for a lawful alcohol delivery will reduce that harm," RDA chief executive Michael Waters said in a statement.