Fight against liquor barn

The proposal includes a 734sq m Dan Murphy’s liquor store, modifications to the tavern such as a bigger kitchen, courtyards and family-style bistro, offices on a second storey and 123 parking bays.

MRRA president Roger Tomlins said the proposal had been conditionally approved by the development assessment panel (DAP) and sent to the City of Bayswater for review and approval.

‘The owners of the Peninsula Tavern will then need to take their application to the Liquor Commission, which will be an opportunity for the sub-committee to present public submissions that demonstrate that it is not in the public interest to have a Dan Murphy’s at the new Peninsula Tavern,’ Mr Tomlins said.

‘We need to submit public submissions for our voices to be heard, so we’ll be giving out pamphlets and asking people to sign a survey to let the community know what’s going on and gather some support to submit to the Liquor Commission.

‘We don’t know when the Liquor Commission hearing is so they haven’t got approval to have a liquor licence for that Dan Murphy’s barn yet, but we’re trying to be proactive and make sure when decisions are made our voices are heard.’

Mr Tomlins said the MRRA was not against having a liquor shop in the area but didn’t want it on a big area of land near the train station.

‘The main objections to the proposal are related to having a Dan Murphy’s so close to the Eighth Avenue strip that will not contribute to the reduction of anti-social behaviour, particularly giv-en the number of social organisations that are here in Maylands that have a client group that struggle with alcohol,’ Mr Tomlins said.

‘We think the proposal is an underuse of that big block of land right next to the railway station to just have a liquor barn there and parking when it could be used for some low-rise residential and mixed use properties.

‘We’re not against the liquor shop, but for the big area so close to the station to be underused as a liquor barn isn’t appropriate.’