I’m in Vic, I held a liquor license for a bar for a while so I was relatively good with the laws. What I learnt most of all is that VGLR enforces the law based on context. The food rule is gonna be a lot more strict at a sit down bar than at a nightclub, but the reverse would be true for the water rule.

As the dude who ran my liquor license training said, (paraphrase) sometimes it’s safer to stick a drunk in the corner and ply them with water and food until they sober up a bit, is that what the law says? No, but that’s why laws are written vaguely, so common sense can prevail. (Liquor license people are not cops but they work with cops so have that argument elsewhere)

We have those laws in Aus. It literally specifies that food must be sold if alcohol is being served. Literally a plate of peanuts on the counter counts.