Sydney venue rules for waitressing and adult entertainment

There is no provision in the Liquor Act 2007 that regulates what waiting staff wear, and there is no permit, licence or government approval for topless waitressing at a licensed venue. The Act does not define "adult entertainment" in general terms at all.

What the Act does is put the obligation on the licensee. Section 73 makes it an offence for a licensee to permit indecent conduct on the licensed premises, with a maximum penalty of 100 penalty units. Because the licensee carries that risk, the licensee is the one who decides — not a regulator, and not you.

That is why the answer to "can we do this at the pub?" is always "ask the pub". A venue that says no is not citing a law at you. It is exercising a discretion the law gives it.

Private functions at licensed venues are expressly contemplated by the Act. Section 28(2A) confirms a restaurant or public entertainment venue can be closed to the general public because it has been booked for a private function, such as a wedding or a party — though not for recurring exclusive or members-only use.

Small bars are the one licence type with an express prohibition. It is a statutory condition of a small bar licence that the premises cannot be used to operate as a facility regularly used for adult relaxation entertainment.

Read the wording carefully, because it matters. The condition targets premises "regularly used" as a "facility" for that purpose — it is directed at the character of the venue's business, not at a single private booking. Whether one private booking breaches it has not been settled by any published guidance we could find, so we are not going to tell you it is fine.

The practical consequence is simple: if your venue is a small bar, assume the answer is no unless the licensee tells you otherwise in writing, and understand that the licensee is the one carrying the condition.

This is the question customers ask most often, and it has an unusually clean answer: the NSW Government has answered it on the parliamentary record.

A Legislative Council question on notice asked directly whether a hospitality venue needs planning approval to use topless waitstaff, and whether a council can require its own approval. The answer was that hospitality venues need development consent in line with the applicable Local Environmental Plan, but that planning approval is not required in relation to the attire worn by staff at an approved venue — and that this is not a matter that can be regulated by a planning instrument.

That does not make everything permitted. It draws a line between a booking and a land use. A venue that made nude or semi-nude entertainment a regular, prominent part of its business can fall inside the City of Sydney definition of "adult entertainment premises", and that use does require development consent.

So: hosting an entertainer is not a planning matter. Becoming a topless bar is.

A private home is the simplest venue, and it is where most bookings above the clothed tier happen. There is no NSW law prohibiting non-sexual adult entertainment in a private residence, and no approval to obtain.

The constraint that does apply is visibility. Section 5 of the Summary Offences Act 1988 creates an offence of obscene exposure "in or within view from a public place". The words "within view from" do real work: a living room with the blinds up onto a street is within the reach of that offence even though the room itself is private.

We are not going to tell you where the topless tier sits against that provision. We could not find NSW case law on whether it applies, and answering it would be legal advice. What we can tell you is the practical rule that follows either way, which is to close the blinds and shut the door.

One other Act is worth naming so you know it exists. The Restricted Premises Act 1943 defines "related sex uses" to include paid adult entertainment involving nudity. That definition is not itself an offence — in the Act it feeds a court-order process brought by senior police, and it does not apply to licensed premises or registered clubs at all. It is not a routine risk at a private party, but it is the mechanism that exists.

Nothing in NSW strata law mentions adult entertainment. What it does contain is a direct clothing rule that applies to common property, and a noise rule that a party can breach without trying.

Model by-law 7(1) requires owners, occupiers and their invitees to be adequately clothed when on common property, and not to behave in a way likely to cause offence or embarrassment to other residents. Common property means the lobby, the lift, the corridor, the car park, the pool and the roof terrace. It does not mean inside the apartment.

By-law 6 prohibits noise likely to interfere with another resident's peaceful enjoyment, and by-law 7(2) makes the occupier responsible for taking reasonable steps to ensure their invitees comply. In practice the noise by-law is what actually gets bookings shut down, not anything about the entertainment.

Note that model by-laws only apply to a scheme that has adopted or lodged them, and individual buildings often register stricter ones. If the building has a function room, its rules are usually a separate document again.

NSW has a mandatory Code of Conduct for short-term rental accommodation, and parts of it are offence provisions rather than house rules. The Code says nothing about adult entertainment. It says a great deal about noise, alarm and distress to neighbours, and interference with common property.

Section 2.5.2 prohibits a guest from creating noise likely to disrupt neighbours, acting in a way that could reasonably be expected to cause alarm or distress to neighbours, or using the premises in a way that unreasonably interferes with common property in a strata scheme. Section 2.5.8 makes the guest responsible for their visitors as if the visitors were guests.

Section 2.5.1 is the one that quietly catches most people: a guest must not contravene by-laws that apply to the premises, or the terms of the rental arrangement. So the building's strata by-laws and the host's own house rules both come into the Code by reference.

Enforcement is real. The Commissioner can issue directions, record a strike against a host or guest, and place them on the exclusion register.

Two regulators sit over a Sydney Harbour charter and neither of them regulates what the entertainment is. Vessel safety is federal, administered by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority under the National System for Domestic Commercial Vessel Safety, which is about survey, certificates of operation and crew competency. Liquor on board is a NSW matter under an on-premises licence for a vessel.

A licensed vessel is licensed premises, so the same s 73 obligation applies to the master or licensee as applies to a publican. Beyond that, it is the charter operator's call, and operators vary enormously.

The thing that makes boats different in practice is sight lines. A deck on Sydney Harbour is overlooked by ferries, other charters, foreshore parks and wharves. The Summary Offences Act definition of "premises" expressly includes a vessel, and the exposure offence reaches conduct within view from a public place. Below deck with the curtains drawn is a different proposition to the aft deck off Shark Island.

Licensed vessels also carry trading conditions worth knowing when you plan the run sheet: liquor service is limited to a window around the voyage, there is a six-hour daily closure period, and passengers cannot board or disembark in the Sydney CBD entertainment precinct after midnight.

This is the category we are most direct about, because the risk sits with the client rather than with us and it is routinely underestimated.

Nothing prohibits adult entertainment at a work function. But an employer has a primary duty under the WHS Act to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and s 19(2) extends that duty to other persons put at risk by the work — which on its face includes engaged entertainers. SafeWork NSW treats sexual harassment as a work health and safety hazard and states expressly that the workplace includes work-related functions and other locations such as a client's home.

On top of that, the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 makes it unlawful for a workplace participant to sexually harass another at a shared workplace, and the definitions expressly include contract workers and self-employed people — which is how entertainers are usually engaged. Section 53 makes a principal or employer liable for acts done by their agents or employees unless they took all reasonable steps to prevent them.

Federally, the Fair Work Ombudsman describes a positive duty to take reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate work-related sexual harassment, and notes plainly that simply responding to reports is not enough. Vicarious liability applies even where the employer did not organise or know about the conduct.

None of this makes a corporate booking a bad idea. It makes it a booking that has to be structured. Attendance genuinely voluntary, the event described accurately in advance so nobody arrives unaware, the entertainment in a separate closed room, and a named person responsible on the night. We will ask you about all four.