How do you get your RSA in Victoria?
Do an approved RSA course online, then download your RSA Certificate of Completion from Liquor Control Victoria. Here is each step, plus the 3-year refresher.
Written byEdway
The short answer
Starting a bar job in Melbourne, pouring at a winery or working a festival bar in Victoria? Here is how to get your RSA. You complete an approved RSA course. Liquor Control Victoria then emails you a certificate number. You finish a few short online steps and download your RSA Certificate of Completion.
That certificate is what your employer needs. It stays current for 3 years, then you complete a free refresher.
You need it before you start serving alcohol, or within one month of your first shift.
Who needs an RSA in Victoria?
You need a current RSA certificate if your job includes offering alcoholic drinks, taking orders or payment for alcohol, or pouring and serving it at a licensed venue in Victoria. That covers bars, pubs, restaurants, bottle shops, wineries and event bars.
You can do the training before you turn 18. You must be 18 or over to serve alcohol.
Doing your RSA online
Edway's Victorian RSA course is online and self-paced. It takes around 6 hours and you fit it around your week. You have 2 months to finish, counted from the date of your confirmation email.
The course covers the national unit SITHFAB021 Provide responsible service of alcohol, plus the topics Victoria adds. These include Victorian liquor laws, drink spiking, ID checks, refusing service and harm minimisation.
How do you choose an approved RSA course in Victoria?
In Victoria, only a course approved by Liquor Control Victoria leads to an RSA certificate. Look for the "Liquor Control Victoria Approved RSA Provider" logo.
Edway is a Liquor Control Victoria Approved RSA Provider.
What you need before you book
Valid photo identification and a Unique Student Identifier (USI). After you book, you complete a short language, literacy, numeracy and digital check in your student account.
How much does an RSA course in Victoria cost?
Choose Victoria on the RSA course page to see the current price of the online course.
Getting your RSA certificate
When you finish, Edway Training (RTO 91401) issues your Statement of Attainment for SITHFAB021. It is your nationally recognised training record. Your employer does not need it.
The document you use at work comes from Liquor Control Victoria:
- Edway sends your completion to Liquor Control Victoria. Allow a few working days.
- Liquor Control Victoria emails you a certificate number.
- Create an account on the Liquor Control Victoria Learning Hub. Complete a short survey, the compulsory "Sexual Harassment and Assault: Recognise, Prevent and Respond" module and a second short survey.
- Download your RSA Certificate of Completion.
Give your employer a copy. They must keep it on site in case liquor inspectors or Victoria Police ask to see it.
Victoria has no RSA competency card. The certificate is the document.
Keeping it current: the 3-year refresher
Your RSA certificate stays current for 3 years. To keep it current, you complete the free RSA Refresher course every 3 years. It runs online through the Liquor Control Victoria Learning Hub, takes about 90 minutes, and comes from Liquor Control Victoria, not from a training provider.
You need your certificate number to start it. Then give your employer a copy of your new certificate.
What if you lose your RSA certificate?
Completing the free refresher gets you a new certificate to download. If you do not have your certificate number, Liquor Control Victoria can look it up for you.
Moving between Victoria and New South Wales
New South Wales and Victoria each run their own RSA. A certificate from one is not automatically valid in the other.
Trained in another state and now working in Victoria? You apply to Liquor Control Victoria for the free bridging course. To qualify, your original training must have been completed within the last 3 years. If you did it online, you must have been living outside Victoria at the time. Allow about 10 working days for the application.
Taking your Victorian RSA to New South Wales? You complete a short online bridging course there. Your Victorian RSA needs to have been completed within the last 3 years. See How do you get your RSA in NSW?.
Can you use a Victorian RSA in other states?
Most other states and territories accept the Statement of Attainment you receive from your training provider, though some add their own refresher. South Australia is the exception. It only accepts RSA training from providers its own Commissioner has approved, and Edway is not on that list.
Next step
Choose Victoria on the RSA course page to start the online course today.
Not sure whether online study suits you? Read Can I do my RSA online?.
Sources
- Liquor Control Victoria — Responsible Service of Alcohol trainingWho needs an RSA certificate, the one-month rule, the Learning Hub steps, the employer copy, the free 3-year refresher and the interstate bridging conditions
- training.gov.au — SITHFAB021Unit code and official title
