UPDATE 3.35PM: The Commission has reserved its decision for another day, following a five-hour hearing.
MAYLANDS MLA Lisa Baker and a group of concerned residents are “hopeful” the Liquor Commission will not grant Dan Murphy’s a liquor license at the Peninsula Tavern site.
The Commission are holding a hearing into Woolworths’ Australian Leisure Hospitality (AHL) liquor license application for a $3.5 million 1200sq m bottle shop and small tavern in Maylands.
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READ NOWAbout 10 residents joined Ms Baker and Bayswater Mayor Dan Bull to rally against the proposal this morning.
In April 2017, the WA Supreme Court ordered the Commission to review its decision.
The Commission previously rejected the application in 2016.
Ms Baker said she hoped the three commissioners would listen to the community’s arguments about the proposal.
“It is not about not drinking alcohol, certainly not about not having a hotel or something really positive – it is about what is suitable for this area,” she said.
“It is a residential area, it is the heart of Maylands – it is not where you put 1200sq m of cheap grog.
“We have been fighting for five years to see that the commissioners on this case understand clearly that we do not support this proposal.”
Ms Baker said WA Labor had a Bill in the works to amend the legislation so that communities did not have to fight for lengths of time against commercial companies like Woolworths.
Maylands Residents and Ratepayers Association vice-president Roger Tomlins said he preferred to have a bistro and possibly a bar or liquor store with accommodation upstairs on the site instead of a Dan Murphy’s.
“What I’d like coming out of today is that they don’t have a Dan Murphy’s liquor barn built on that block, which is the Peninsula Tavern,” he said.
“I just can’t envisage that happening and if that happens, it is a new ball game.
“Thinking about the heritage-listed Peninsula Hotel… having a grey and green coloured liquor barn next door would not enhance that at all.”
Cr Bull said the City recently submitted an intervention notice to the Commission after it amended its town planning scheme to close the “loophole” for such applications.
“I would like the Liquor Commission to decide to not grant the liquor license,” he said.
“Three years ago, we sought to close the loophole and Woolworths got some of the best lawyers to find another loophole.
“I think they should exercise their social-corporate responsibility to just not proceed with the proposal.”
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