Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Western Victoria Region

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:54): (413) My constituency matter is for the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, and it relates to the speed of liquor licences being granted. In particular I refer to SIP Champagne Bar, which is a new business attempting to start up in Ballarat. They have been waiting for a liquor licence for months. My question is very simple: why is it taking so long for them to get a liquor licence approved? I spoke to Lauren Irwin, who is the operator, and her husband. They have put thousands of dollars into their business. According to information from the department that they have got, there are over a thousand licences waiting to be granted, so a backlog of 1000 or more liquor licences. You can imagine what impact this has on a small business if they are trying to get started and they are waiting months and months and months and months and months, so I ask the question and I hope I get a clear answer, because small business really cannot cop it anymore.