Perth restaurants to offer drinks without food
Radical and sweeping red tape-cutting liquor law reforms by the McGowan Government will soon see West Australians popping into small and medium sized restaurants to drink booze without ordering food.
The changes, to be tabled in parliament in the next fortnight will give restaurants, with the capacity for 120 or fewer people, the ability serve alcohol to customers without buying food.
Another change is the tightening of loopholes to ensure children cannot get access to alcohol from on-demand delivery services.
The changes will also reduce red tape and costs on venues by revising trading permits so they can compete with pop-up stalls while allowing accredited rour operators to sell and supply alcohol, such as a glass of champagne.
The other big change is setting up a new public interest assessment category for liquor licence applications, giving the Director of Liquor Licensing more discretion when making decisions by taking into account tourism and community benefits.
Tourism Minister Paul Papalia said the changes would increase Perth’s appeal to visitors.
“These reforms will boost the vibrancy of Perth and the rest of the State to enable the tourism sector to realise its potential,” Mr Papalia told Perth Now.
“I think we have an opportunity to present just as an attractive suite of hospitality and entertainment venues as Melbourne does.
“Our hotels are significantly more affordable than Melbourne or Sydney. I would like Melbourne and Sydney people to come here, much the same way that we travel to those cities for a weekend.”
He said protecting established venues from pop-ups was critical. This would allow clubs in Northbridge to stage events in their carparks.
“At the moment what happens often is that local governments allow operators who don’t own an established venue, who don’t remain in that location and pay rates and costs involved with employing people full-time to have a pop-up in the best time of the year, and right next to them, and basically cream off their profit,” he told Perth Now.
“This will enable established venues to get a pop-up licence as part of their operations in land adjacent to them. If they have a carpark beside their pub, they might be able to establish a pop-up in the right time of the year to take advantage of that seasonal opportunity, which otherwise gets taken by someone else.”
by Leon Gettler, November 20th 2017
