WA opposition proposes major liquor reforms
West Australian opposition leader Mark McGowan has proposed what he calls “round two” of WA’s liquor reforms, promising to create a new class of micro-bars
with a 60-person capacity and slash red tape to boost hospitality vibrancy.
Announcing a raft of liquor-related promises, Mr McGowan promised to slash bar licence fees from $3100 to $500 and allow simultaneous approvals from state and local government.
“We are going to, if elected, improve WA’s hospitality, come up with new ideas, remove red tape but at the same time come up with new and modern initiatives to create a healthier drinking culture,” he said. “This is a pitch to revitalising our city and state without the state itself having to spend a lot of money.
“Simply by letting entrepreneurs, creative people get out there and do what they want to do you can actually create a much more vibrant and exciting West Australian culture.”
The promised reforms also include:
• Investigating further relaxation of conditions on restaurants that serve alcohol without the purchase of meals, including dropping the requirement to maintain a full menu and operate the kitchen at all times
• Reviewing the automatic objection to all licence applications by some government agencies, including WA police
• Partnering with City of Perth on its laneway strategy to inject life into the city’s 33 laneways
• Giving local governments discretion to allow country liquor outlets to open on Sundays
• Increasing capacity for the director of Liquor Licensing to close or suspend licences immediately using “stop orders” for problem venues
• Giving DLL increased punishments to dish out to problem venues, such as forcing them to use shatter-proof class
• Introduce a “banned drinking register” modelled on the Northern Territory legislation for certain communities with a high number of alcohol-related problems. The register would ban people convicted of alcohol related offences from drinking altogether.
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