‘Let people live their lives’: Minns pours cold water on alcohol ban plan

There’s “too much regulation” in NSW, says Premier as he moves to junk a plan by booze bureaucrats to ban pre-mixed alcoholic drinks they deem too sweet, fruity or tasty.

Premier Chris Minns has moved to junk a plan to ban alcoholic drinks based on taste, telling booze bureaucrats that “we’ve got to let people live their lives”.

It comes after The Saturday Telegraph revealed that Liquor and Gaming NSW (L&GNSW) wanted the power to ban drinks that taste too sweet, too fruity, or too tasty.

“I think we can manage and moderate the risks of underage drinking without wiping out or stopping adults from making their own decisions in their life,” he said.

The plan could have put flavoured vodkas, popular seltzers, alcoholic ginger beer, and other premix drinks at risk of being banned as “undesirable” on taste alone.

Extraordinary draft guidelines circulated to the industry state that “confectionary or dessert-based” flavours pose an increased risk of appealing to minors.

“Your average adult in NSW still needs to be in a position where they can make a decision about what they eat, what they drink and how they live their life,” Mr Minns said.

Declaring there is “too much regulation” in NSW, Mr Minns said that adults should not have their drinking choice policed.

“I think we can manage and moderate the risks of underage drinking without wiping out or stopping adults from making their own decisions in their life,” he said.

“I’ll just give a very simple message to my government and that is, you’ve got to let people live their lives.”

The draft guidelines have sent shockwaves through the industry.

“This decision empowers unelected bureaucrats to become pseudo ‘taste police’ cruising the aisles of the local bottle-o and banning drinks they decide are too fun,” one industry source said.

According to the guidelines, drinks that are too affordable could also be banned as appealing to minors, tackling an emerging market of premixed drinks, after Hard Solo was forced to rebrand as “Hard Rated”.