FAQs

A dry area is a place where you're not allowed to have or drink alcohol. The purpose of a dry area is to curb alcohol-related problems and anti-social behaviour in public areas such as:

• reserves
• main shopping precincts
• car parks
• beaches and foreshores
• communities where drinking in public places is an indicator of complex social issues.

It's not an offence to have alcohol while genuinely passing through a dry area if:

• it's unopened and in the original container in which it was purchased from a licensed premises
• it's in the course of carrying on a business, such as a restaurant delivering a bottle of wine with a meal
• you live near a dry area and must pass through it to enter your home
• the alcohol is for religious purposes.

Read more here: SA.GOV.AU - Dry areas (www.sa.gov.au)

Yes, businesses that sell alcohol as part of normal trade as still able to do so. The Liquor Licensing Act 1997 does allow patrons who purchase bottled wine on a licensed premises to consume with a meal, to remove the unconsumed portion of that wine in its original container when they leave the premises, even if it requires them to pass through a dry area.

In these circumstances, if challenged by an authorised officer, the onus of proving that the possession of the liquor was lawful lies on the person in possession of the liquor. In other words, that person would need to prove that the unsealed container was genuinely being carried through the dry area following a meal at a nearby licensed premises. Evidence of a receipt at a nearby restaurant, for example, would likely satisfy this onus of proof.