Newsroom

May 2, 2018

Pub owners in regional Queensland are set to enjoy a big discount on their liquor licensing fees with KAP Leader and member for Traeger Robbie Katter re-introducing his liquor licensing Bill into parliament today.

Pub owners in regional Queensland are set to enjoy a big discount on their liquor licensing fees with KAP Leader and member for Traeger Robbie Katter re-introducing his liquor licensing Bill into parliament today.

Mr Katter introduced the original Bill in March 2017 which was recommended to be passed by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee in September 2017.

However, due to the timing of 2017 state election the Bill Parliament did not get the opportunity to vote on the Bill.

“I expect both major parties will again support this Bill,’’ Mr Katter said.

“If passed about 110 pubs in regional Queensland will benefit from their liquor license fee dropping from around $3500 to $350 per year.

“This Bill is vital if remote pubs are to stay afloat. Some of these pubs are in towns that only have a population of a couple of hundred people, or less, but they were paying the same price on fees as pubs in Brisbane.

“Our regional pub operators are critical to the social fabric of rural areas, they don’t just pull beers. They operate as the local post office, first aid office, tourist information centre and provide a central meeting place for locals to come together.

“We expect the Government will lose about $300,000 in revenue from licence fees as eligible pub owners will have their licence fee reduced from around $3,500 to around $350. However it will have a significant positive impact on those small pubs which struggle under unnecessarily high fees.”