Thursday, 24 March 2022

Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund

Mr T BULL (Gippsland East) (09:37): How is this for bureaucracy at its finest? Dylan Clark and his partner took over the Marlo Hotel late last year, but they have not received anything from the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund, which was created to support these very businesses through the COVID lockdowns. The hotel was eligible for support, but it was sold and in the selling of it the liquor licence changed hands. The fund was no longer open to new applicants, so while other hotels continued to receive the support, Marlo was simply cut off and they received no further support through that system simply because the liquor licence had changed hands. It is not fair, and efforts to rectify that have fallen on deaf ears. The government made this criterion, so surely it can change this criterion for the right outcome. The owners requested an exception, but the business that was previously eligible and supported by this fund was given absolutely no resolution at all. The hotel closed its doors, it put off staff, it went through hardship—it went through a very difficult period—and this ought to be fixed.