Application fees for liquor licences, approvals to rise

Most application fees have not changed in over five years. Some have not changed for over 30 years.

Currently, the application fee recovers less than 30 per cent of the cost of actually processing an application.

The Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing says licence application fees are "a natural cost of business in a regulated environment", with the increase to liquor licence application fees being introduced to support the cost of processing applications.

These increases will affect new applicants and existing licence holders who apply to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority or the Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing for liquor licences, approvals and authorisations.

Why are the fees changing?

The fee changes were recommended by the Liquor Act Review Report which said: "Recommendation 27: All liquor application fees prescribed under Schedule 1 of the Liquor Regulation 2008 should be revised to align with those fees as far as practical with the actual business cost of processing licence applications as part of the administration of the Liquor Act."

The Minister for Hospitality, Gaming and Racing recently announced that 89 of the 91 recommendations made by the review were supported, in place or will be rolled out over the coming 12 months. This includes recommendation 27.

What the changes mean for the industry

From 1 September 2014 all applications for new licences, approvals and most authorisations will increase.

To recognise that a reduction of trading hours for licensed venues reduces the risk profile, all applications to reduce extended trading hours in full or in part will now be free.

Online and paper-based application forms will be updated to reflect the fee changes.

What are the new fees?

A table is available on the OLGR website, which shows the fee changes from 1 September 2014.