Leading liquor licensing lawyers believe the wide-sweeping liquor reforms introduced this week will make it easier for new bottle shops to open in the metropolitan area.
Leading liquor licensing lawyers believe the wide-sweeping liquor reforms introduced this week will make it easier for new bottle shops to open in the metropolitan area.
Tough restrictions on liquor store licence applications have been lifted under the new reforms, with licences for new retail outlets subject to the same requirements as tavern or nightclub licence application.
However, the Liquor Stores Association of Western Australia executive director Lindsay James said that while tough conditions had been lifted, he had been assured by the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor that there would not be a large increase in the number of new bottle shops.
“I have been assured by the government and by the department that it will not result in any new store licences, except where there is a need like in developing areas, because they do not want an increase in the availability of packaged liquor,” Mr James said.
But liquor licensing lawyers are arguing that the department’s policy can not override the intent of the law.
Several lawyers spoken to by WA Business News are working for clients who have been holding off their liquor store applications until the changes came through.
Under the new reforms, applicants need to prove the liquor licence is in the public interest, rather than the old requirement to prove there is a need for a new licence.
Bottle shop applications were also previously subject to a special condition, which did not allow new licences to be issued if the public were already provided with a service in the area.
Lavan Legal partner Dan Mossenson said the additional requirement on bottle shop licences, which was introduced in 1998, “put the brakes on new liquor store licences being issued.”
“There is no question that it will now be easier with the removal of the anti-competitive provisions of the Act,” Mr Mossenson said.
Mr Mossenson said the licensing authority would be “wrong at law” if it didn't issue new liquor store licences which met the public interest test and refused them for policy reasons.
“It will be up to applicants to show new stores are in the public interest…I don’t think there would be a problem for a conveniently located takeaway liquor outlet operating in a normal suburban environment, provided no groups of people are at risk with excessive consumption from packaged sales due to the number of outlets,” Mr Mossenson said.
Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor spokesman Doug White said there was no “specific attitude towards the granting of liquor licenses per se.”
“The public interest test provides the licensing authority with greater flexibility in determining licence applications by being able to consider a wider range of factors,” he said.
“These factors may include…harm or ill-health caused to at risk groups due to the use of liquor, the impact on the amenity of the surrounding area or whether offence, annoyance, disturbance or inconvenience might be caused to people to live or work in the vicinity of the premises.”
“The public interest test does not support an unqualified proliferation of any category of liquor licence.”
Barrister John Prior agreed that it should be easier for applicants to gain liquor store licences.
Rumours that Coles and Woolworths were planning to expand their already dominating presence in the liquor retail market on the back of the changes have been circling the industry.
A spokesman for Coles Supermarkets, which operates 90 of WA’s 473 liquor stores, said its strategy remained unchanged in light of the liquor licensing changes.
“We will look at new growth opportunities where they make sense for our business,” he said.
Woolworths operates 80 liquor stores. A Woolworths spokeswoman said the retailer was reviewing how the regulations would impact its business.
Mr Prior said the test would come with the first appeal against a decision by the department at the Supreme Court.
“If the department is saying they won’t issue new licences then that is a policy issue and it will come down to the interpretation of the law,” he said.
“We will have to wait for the first case to see how the public interest test will be interpreted.”
The Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor is spending $1 million advertising the new reforms, which includes $630,000 on television, radio and print adverts. The department has al-so commissioned 5,500 handbooks explaining the new laws at a cost of $37,000.
