by Paul Cutler | Jul 31, 2026 | Uncategorized
Coincidentally, but also following on from my last post, I was recently asked a question about a liquor licence and a tennis club social function. This lead me to discover some of the quite strange exceptions to when a liquor licence is required to sell alcohol. These are generally set out in s6 Liquor Act 2007 (NSW).
The answer to the tennis club question (see s6(5)) is that clubs and non-profit groups can sell drinks at fundraising events without a licence provided: there is one bar only; under 250 people; the event goes for no more than 4 hours; it doesn’t finish after midnight; food must be available; police must be welcome; and the Secretary needs 14 days’ notice. The exception is also limited to 6 events per year.
However, some of the other exemptions are quite peculiar and it makes me think about who lobbied whom.
Flower & Food Gift Services (s6(1A)).
Sending someone a bottle of wine tucked inside a bouquet? That’s fine, provided it’s a genuine gift service, delivered to an adult (at an address other than the one whether the liquor was purchased) between 7am–7pm (except in the case where unforeseen circumstances have delayed the delivery of the gift during that period), and the liquor is no more than 2 litres and was purchased retail. No sneaky “gift baskets” as a workaround!
Bed & Breakfasts (s6(2)).
Small B&Bs (provided there are no more than 8 guests staying at one time) can pour a glass without a licence, as long as: the sale or supply is ancillary to the provision of accommodation or a meal; the liquor was bought retail by the B&B owner; it’s for guests only; no minors are served; and the host has done their responsible service of alcohol training. Very civilised.
Retirement Villages (s6(3)).
Residents (and their guests) can have a knees-up without a licence, as long as: the residents’ committee (not the village operator) is running the show; someone from the committee is present to supervise; and the drinks were bought from a retail shop.
It’s also OK to sell liquor to someone who is accommodated in a nursing home within the meaning of the Public Health Act 2010, and is receiving nursing care. This only applies if the liquor is sold or supplied by a person acting with the authority of a person in charge of, the nursing home,
The general exceptions in (s6(1))
These cover a surprisingly eclectic range of situations:
- selling drinks to an adult on such trains under the control of Sydney Trains or NSW Trains as are determined by those corporations. I assume this means the “dining car” on those trains that have one;
- selling perfume (as long as nobody’s drinking it);
- a doctor or pharmacist selling booze for medicinal purposes (really? – I am clearly going to the wrong doctor);
- selling at auctions but only those auctions conducted by an auctioneer;
- sale of liquor taken in execution or under similar process, or forfeited to the Crown, if the sale is by or on behalf of the sheriff or a sheriff’s officer, or a bailiff or a police officer;
- selling on ships on interstate or international voyages;
- selling on aircraft (but not on a charter service) and provided that it’s the aircraft operator who is selling the liquor. Do not buy a drink from the passenger seated beside you!
- selling liquor to an in-patient of a public hospital; or an overnight patient of a private health facility (or any other medical facility of a class prescribed by the regulations; and
- the sale of liquor authorised by a law of the Commonwealth for the export of the liquor from the Commonwealth.
by Paul Cutler | May 29, 2026 | Uncategorized
So, have you ever wondered why you can’t buy takeaway alcohol on Good Friday (hopefully, it’s not just me)? The short answer is that its because of the Sabbatarian movement which was prominent in Australia in the 19th century.
The online Britannica tells me that Sabbatarianism is the: ” doctrine of those Christians who believe that the Sabbath (usually on Sundays) should be observed in accordance with the Fourth Commandment, which forbids work on the Sabbath because it is a holy day”. It is a word that originates from the 1600’s
If you thought Australia has a drinking culture now, it was apparently a lot “boozier” in the early 1800’s. After studying contemporary accounts of heavy drinking in New South Wales during the first part of the nineteenth century, Russel Ward concluded, ‘no people on the face of the earth ever absorbed more alcohol per head of population’.
This gave rise (by around the 1830’s) to Sabbatarianism (along with the temperance movement) to prevent people working or engaging in frivolous or immoral activities like visiting pubs on the Sabbath. The Sabbatarians didn’t have a monopoly on this and apparently as early as 321AD Constantine had decreed regulations against Sunday labour (Britannica).
So, what influence does this 200 year old movement have on our liquor laws?
The Retail Trading Act 2008 defines “restricted trading days” as Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day or Boxing Day. All retail shops are required to close on restricted trading days unless exempt. . Liquor traders must follow both the Retail Trading Act 2008 and the Liquor Act 2007 regarding trading restrictions and hours.
The Liquor Act (s29) prevents a holder of a “packaged liquor licence” from selling any retail liquor on a restricted trading day. That explains why the local bottle-o is closed.
It’s a bit more complex for holders of on-premises licences. Section 25(3)(c ) provides that on restricted trading days, liquor can only be sold for consumption: “between noon and 10 pm on that day (but only if the liquor is sold with or ancillary to a meal served in a dining area on the licensed premises),”. There is the possibility of an extended trading authorisation being granted outside of these hours, but with the exception of midnight to 5am, there will still with a condition that the alcohol is provided ancillary to a meal served in a dining area on the licensed premises
So, what’s a meal? Meal is a defined term (s4): meal means a genuine meal consumed by a person at a dining table and includes, in the case of an on-premises licence that relates to accommodation premises— (a) a meal supplied by the proprietor for immediate consumption (otherwise than at a dining table) on or away from the premises, and (b) a picnic-style hamper supplied by the proprietor for consumption (otherwise than at a dining table) away from the premises on the same day as it is supplied.
If you think that is a little cryptic the explanation for a similar law in QLD says that a meal must be prepared, served and eaten on the premises. A meal is food that can be eaten with cutlery while seated— for example, roast beef with vegetables, lasagne, a stir-fry or a curry with rice [standard “pub grub’]. It is not light takeaway food like snacks, hot chips, an entree or kid’s meal.
….I am starting to feel more sympathy for liquor licensees who have to navigate some of these requirements in their business.
Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph
by Paul Cutler | Mar 31, 2026 | Uncategorized
For many years I have helped people with their visa applications as well as assisting in relation to reviews of refusal and cancellation decisions.
Since around 2013 the Australian Department of Home Affairs have used an online portal called the ImmiAccount where visa applications can be made electronically.
The Parent Visa Application
It’s been quite a long time since I have had to lodge a parent visa application for a client I and couldn’t find the visa class listed on the drop down menu on my ImmiAccount. I eventually discovered that Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations specifies that all Parent subclass visa applications must be made at the place, and in the manner (if any), specified by the Minister in a legislative instrument made for this item under subregulation 2.07(5). The relevant legislative Instrument (IMMI 18/079: Arrangements for Parent Visa Applications) provides that an application must be:
(a) posted to:
Parent Visa Centre
Department of Home Affairs
Locked Bag 7
NORTHBRIDGE WA 6865
AUSTRALIA; or
(b) delivered by courier service to:
Parent Visa Centre
Department of Home Affairs
Wellington Central
Ground Floor
836 Wellington Street
WEST PERTH WA 6005
AUSTRALIA.
That answered my first question – only paper applications are accepted.
You wouldn’t think that would be too difficult and you probably think you could walk in and lodge your application. However, departmental policy specifies that parent subclass visa applications may not be hand delivered unless they are couriered to the address specified in the legislative instrument.
If a Parent visa application is received in any location other than that listed above, the application is invalid and may be returned to the applicant/sponsor (if requested), after a digital copy has been made, with advice to post or courier the application to the addresses specified above. A departmental office that receives an invalid application cannot make that application valid by sending it through internal departmental mail to the correct processing office. Digital copies of invalid applications must be sent to the Parent Visa Centre in West Perth for record keeping purposes (so they get an electronic copy anyway!).
Clearly my client’s application was an important document and I decided to use the Australia Post express post (yellow envelope) with a tracking number to send the documents to Northbridge WA. After a day or two I was a bit concerned to find that, according to the online tracking on the Austpost website that my envelope was in Hobart on it’s way to Western Australia. Clearly freight and transport networks are more complicated than I thought. This actually caused me to check the photocopy of the envelope to make sure I hadn’t put an incorrect postcode.
About 2 weeks after posting, I finally received an acknowledgment from Home Affairs that they had received a valid visa application. What I found a little surprising was that the acknowledgement letter provided instructions about how I could import the details of my freshly made paper visa application into my ImmiAccount.
Don’t get me started on why it couldn’t be lodged on the ImmiAccount in the first place. I honestly have no idea what the policy or rationale behind this convoluted process is, although I assume there must be one. Bureaucracy (along with the rest of the world) gone crazy!
Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.
by Paul Cutler | Mar 1, 2026 | Uncategorized
When I think of practitioners who are struck off the roll, I usually think of some kind of serious dishonestly or financial fraud or stealing of client money. So, I was a little surprised to read that someone had been removed for: “grossly discourteous, coarse, disrespectful, gratuitously offensive, improperly threatening and wholly unprofessional” conduct. I have blogged several times about cases where there has been unnecessarily aggressive correspondence. The case of Mr Sideris is next level and was done by someone with more that 40 years experience who should have known better.
How did it start?
Like all good stories it started innocently enough. Mr Sideris was attempting to help his 93 year old mother in law in a dispute with the Salvation Army (“TSA”) over a Refundable Accommodation Deposit for aged care accommodation. The solicitor acting for TSA wrote to Mr Sideris (6 times) requesting that all correspondence be directed through his office. Sideris ignored this repeatedly and kept corresponding directly with TSA.
Rule 33 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015 is sometimes known as the “no contact” rule. The rule has existed in some form since at least 1847 and is clearly not an obscure rule that was unknown to Mr Sideris. It’s purpose is to make sure that the legal matters are conducted properly through the solicitors.
The emails
Initially Mr Sideris’s emails told the TSA solicitor that was “pissed off” and wanted the solicitor to “test my patience no more.” Email after email was filled with profanities, personal insults, threats, and baseless allegations. TSA was accused of wanting the mother in law to “wither and die” and to “torture” her “to the end” and warned that “the way things are going she will die soon and it will be your fault”.
Mr Sideris also helpfully informed the TSA solicitor that he had “been a lawyer when you were in nappies,” suggested he needed to “grow up,” and in one memorable sign-off noted that he could “say f––k off but I am too much of a gentleman.” In yet another email, Mr Sideris demanded TSA’s solicitor to “cut this legal bullshit and let common sense prevail,” before signing off with a *Dirty Harry* reference: “So with respect, grow up mate … GO AHEAD MAKE MY DAY.”
NCAT
It was ultimately the no contact issue and the tone of the emails sent by Mr Sideris which resulted in a complaint being made and the matter going to NCAT.
NCAT found him guilty of professional misconduct and recommended his removal from the Roll. Rather than seeing the error of his ways, this caused an escalation in behaviour. Correspondence to the Law Society, Hicksons Lawyers, and the Tribunal itself ran to nearly 400 pages — a remarkable volume of output for a man who would later tell the Court of Appeal he had not read either of the Tribunal’s decisions and was “not interested” in doing so. He referred to NCAT as “a bunch of idiots hiding behind a Govt banner,” described the Stage 1 decision as “a load of shit,” and sent emails to the Law Society and Tribunal that attached, for clarity, images of a middle finger.
The Greek Village Gambit
This is one of my “favourite” parts of this story. When the Law Society commenced proceedings in the Court of Appeal in late 2024, Mr Sideris refused to accept service by email, signing off that email with “piss off all of you,” and followed it up seven minutes later with a second email stating simply: “Again — simply put … piss off all of you.” When asked to confirm his address for service, Sideris replied that documents should be physically delivered to him at “Filia Village, Filia Greece” — a village in the Peloponnese — as he would be “absent and on the road for over 2 years.”
He was actually questioned about this by Bell CJ in the C of A. He admitted that he had lived in Filia when he was 4 years old and that the last time he visited there was in the 1980’s. Apparently Filia is now deserted. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Court found this was a deliberate attempt to obstruct service.
The Decision – struck off
The Court — Bell CJ, Kirk JA, and Griffiths AJA — had no difficulty concluding that Mr Sideris was not a fit and proper person to remain on the Roll, and was likely to remain so indefinitely. His purported apology, offered shortly after the Stage 2 NCAT Decision, had been rendered entirely hollow by the sustained torrent of abuse that followed it. The Court observed in its own understated way that the correspondence “betoken[s] unfitness to be held out by the court as a member of a profession in whom confidence could be placed.”
Mr Sideris was removed from the Roll, and he was ordered to pay the Law Society’s costs.
If you want to read the whole story start with Council of the Law Society of New South Wales v Sideris [2025] NSWCA 159
by Paul Cutler | Jan 21, 2026 | Uncategorized
Blog inspiration can come from diverse sources. In the lead up to Xmas, I was having a lazy afternoon at home with local ABC radio (which I think was broadcast nationally) on the in background. The guest being interviewed was a food safety expert who was advising on things like how long you can leave the turkey or ham or other food out of the fridge or how long is it safe to eat the leftovers etc etc
The discussion turned to taking (transporting) food to the Xmas BBQ. There was a text message from a listener along the lines of “can I take roadkill to a BBQ”. The immediate response from the expert was “That’s a very Northern Territory question”.
It turns out the short answer is “yes” you could take roadkill to a BBQ provided it was really fresh. There are some fairly obvious health risks if its not “really fresh” and I’ll spare you the details of how bodies commence decomposition and whether you should “gut” the carcass.
However, then there were some follow up text messages effectively saying it was illegal to pick up roadkill. It turns out that this is correct. In NSW it is the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 which applies and I note the following:
- Section 2.5(1) makes it an offence to deal in (or attempt to deal in) a protected animal or plant;
- All native mammals (except dingos) are protected animals (see Schedule 5);
- Section 2.5(2)(d) makes it clear that “deals in” includes “possession” (which has the same meaning as in the Crimes Act); and
- the section applies “whether or not it is a living animal or plant”
So, possession of native animal roadkill could make you liable for a tier 4 monetary penalty. A tier 4 penalty for an individual is $22,000 (see 13.1(5)(d)). That probably covers most kangaroos and common roadkill.
The fines get higher and the threat of imprisonment looms if you picked up a threatened species or an animal that was part of a threatened ecological community.
So, food safety issues aside, picking up roadkill for a BBQ could be quite an expensive exercise!
Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.
Coincidentally, but also following on from my last post, I was recently asked a question about a liquor licence and a tennis club social function. This lead me to discover some of the quite strange exceptions to when a liquor licence is required to sell alcohol. These are generally set out in s6 Liquor Act 2007 (NSW).
