By Andrew Starke
Liquor retailers have expressed frustration over the NSW State Government’s Easter trading hours for 2011 with the Liquor Stores Association (LSA) NSW saying little has been done to address its concerns.
Packaged liquor licence trading is still not permitted on Easter Sunday under the Shop Trading Act of 2008.
“LSA NSW is concerned that the previous NSW State Government not only buckled to union pressure but they failed to resolve the anomaly that forced most NSW Packaged Liquor Licences to be closed on Easter Sunday and Boxing Day,” LSA CEO Terry Mott told TheShout.
“This reinterpretation of the NSW Shop Trading Act took away the right that had existed for around forty years for most take away Packaged Liquor Licences to trade on those days – without any legislative or regulatory change and without any public debate or decision by the NSW Parliament.”
LSA NSW estimates this has cost employees in the retail liquor sector around 2,500 days of lost employment opportunity and members in excess of $3 million in lost sales turnover for each day they are forced to be closed.
“The Baillieu Government in Victoria has moved swiftly to fix some of the Easter Sunday Trading confusion in Victoria and we call on the O’Farrell NSW Government to quickly resolve this situation for our member Retail Liquor stores in NSW and give their employees and the option to work and the business owners the option to trade on Easter Sunday and Boxing Day if they wish,” said Mott.
To view the Easter trading hours for 2011 on the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing website, click here.