The Liquor Stores Association of WA has crafted a compromise reform proposal that would allow independent stores to trade on Sundays but would maintain restrictions on chain stores owned by Coles Myer and Woolworths.
The Liquor Stores Association of WA has crafted a compromise reform proposal that would allow independent stores to trade on Sundays but would maintain restrictions on chain stores owned by Coles Myer and Woolworths.
Its proposal may win government backing, since it moves toward a more liberal policy while undercutting one of the main criticisms of reform.
The association’s policy contrasts with the stance taken by the government’s review committee, which believes all liquor stores should be allowed to trade on Sundays.
Review committee chairman Jim Freemantle said this would bring equity between hotels, which currently have a monopoly on Sunday trading, and liquor stores.
The Australian Hotels Association believes this proposal would be highly damaging to its members, particularly in country towns.
AHA WA chief executive Bradley Woods believes the review committee’s proposal would also support the growing dominance of Coles Myer and Woolworths.
Mr Freemantle dismisses this line of argument.
“The Coles Myer argument – that we would throw it over to the big boys – is thrown up all the time, but there are a lot of liquor stores that are ordinary mum and dad businesses,” he said.
Mr Freemantle’s view might not be readily accepted by the Gallop government, since an orchestrated fear campaign about the market power of Coles and Woolworths contributed to the defeat of February’s Sunday trading referendum.
The Liquor Stores Association’s compromise proposal would allow the government to move towards a more liberal policy, without risking criticism that it was supporting the ‘big boys’.
The association’s executive director, Lindsay James, said the definitions used in the Retail Trading Act – which allow ‘small’ supermarkets to trade on Sundays – should be applied to liquor stores.
Mr James said this would bring equality to different types of retailers.
The association’s proposal would allow about two-thirds of WA’s 477 liquor stores to trade on Sundays.
Mr James said the policy was supported by most of the independent liquor store owners.
He said the association’s number one priority in the current debate was to maintain regulated availability of liquor.
“We don’t want a proliferation of new licensees as a consequence of the changes that have been recommended,” he told WA Business News.
Mr James is particularly concerned about the replacement of the ‘needs test’ with a ‘public interest’ test for assessing new licence applications.
He said similar changes in Victoria led to a proliferation in the number of liquor outlets and destroyed the goodwill established by existing liquor stores.
Mr Freemantle’s committee does not share this concern.
“Whilst it was consistently argued that the application of a public interest test would result in a proliferation, or at least a significant increase, in licence numbers, the committee was not persuaded that this would necessarily follow, provided the criteria for determining the public interest were broadly defined,” the committee said in its report.
LIQUOR FACTS
-WA has 477 liquor stores.
-Independents own 310 stores.
-Of these, 74 per cent want the option to trade on Sundays.
-Coles Myer has 98 stores, trading as Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and Quaffers.
-Woolworths has 69 stores, trading as Woolworths and BWS.
