The State Government has announced that changes will be made to WA’s liquor legislation. We understand the proposed changes will be tabled in Parliament next week.
Click here to access the Premier’s 14 February Media Release with his summary of some of the proposed changes.
Obviously, it remains to be seen exactly what amendments are made to the legislation and subsequently how those amendments are interpreted by decision makers and what associated policies are applied by the licensing authority.
Some of the changes foreshadowed do not appear to significantly alter current scope and power in the legislation from a practical perspective.
Other proposed changes seem likely to have little positive impact unless the corresponding licensing authority policy is adopted in such a way as to facilitate any marked improvements.
We will review the amending bill after it has been tabled and comment further.
We have had many discussions with people in the industry about their opinions on the proposed changes and other ideas for change. We have already communicated some of those ideas and comments to the Minister’s office. We are keen to hear more from licensees and applicants so please email us. We will forward comments that we receive to the Minister’s office (anonymously if you like).
Bright Tank Brewing Co has been approved with a tavern licence in respect of new premises to be established in East Perth.
The Delegate of the Director of Liquor Licensing delivered his decision on 2 February 2018, granting the licence in the face of several objections, mainly from local residents and a Police intervention.
The 130 patron venue will provide a range of liquor for consumption on the premises and the licensee’s own beer will also be available in packaged form, to take-away.
The decision maker determined that “with appropriate conditions on the licence, the premises can operate in a manner which does not unduly disturb the amenity of the area or negatively impact on the surrounding residents”.
Only a small number of restrictive conditions were imposed on the approval.
We are proud to have been involved in the application and to have assisted in obtaining a favourable outcome. Congratulations to Leg of a Hairy Dog Pty Ltd.
That subsection imposes a fundamental condition on nearly all licences but is not actually endorsed on any licence itself and so many licensees forget about it.
This important statutory condition requires licensees to “occupy” and retain the right to “occupy” the whole of the licensed premises, at all times, to the exclusion of all others.
Should a licensee cease to occupy any part of the licensed premises, the interest of the licensee in the licence ends. That can potentially occur with, or even without, a written sub-lease.
We come across a never ending array of situations where licensees get caught by this obligation and sometimes lose their licences. We also often see applicants come unstuck with their applications because they cannot prove the ability to comply with the obligation.
An occasional liquor licence is designed for one-off events. However, that does not necessarily mean a singular occasion/date. Such a licence can potentially be obtained for up to 21 days, maximum. Although it is sometimes possible to obtain back-to-back consecutive occasional licences for an event that spans more than a 21 day period.
The price of liquor is so often a topic of discussion amongst consumers, licensees, health authorities and regulators.
There has recently been a lot of media surrounding a so-called “price war” between venues in Subiaco.
The Health Department often intervenes in licensing applications on the basis of price and the risks it says are associated with liquor being sold cheaply.
The answer is “no”, unless a licence specifically has a condition addressing minimum pricing. Neither the liquor legislation nor any policy of the licensing authority states any minimum prices. However, licensing authority policy does say that liquor cannot be sold so cheaply as to encourage rapid or excessive consumption and there are often conditions associated with licences which restrict discounting and certain promotions.
The licensing authority does have power to take action against licensees if it considers liquor is being sold too cheaply.
Will the proposed new liquor law changes introduce
A condition on a licence that states a maximum number of “people” permitted on the premises, usually includes all people, such as staff, a singer, an inspector, any delivery person, not just patrons.
We were 100% successful in obtaining approval for all of the applications for hotel classes of licence that we prepared and then handled in 2017 (ie hotel, hotel restricted, tavern, tavern restricted and small bar).
An additional item has been to the list of valid forms of proof of age specified in the Regulations. A "keypass identity card", validly issued by Australia Post, is now an acceptable form of identification. It must be current and in hard copy in order for it to be acceptable for licensees. Click here for more information.
