BARROOM GOSSIP QUESTIONAIRE
Dear David, Paul and Susie.
Dear David, Paul and Susie.
When you guys are talking among yourselves you may like to answer a few questions that have been already asked
regarding the Tavern, Fair Trading, Insolvency and compliance with Tavern Liquor Licencing Trading Laws.
You registered your Tavern, under the Shire of York, with the Department of Liquor Licencing. This would or should be a business trading name as a Tavern is a commercial business, not just a not for profit community facility.
The Shire of York Tavern Licence 6020142381, Shire of York Forrest Oval Complex, Barker St. York has been known to be the Forrest Tavern and now the Forrest Bar and Café. So have either of theses names ever been registered with Liquor Licencing and do you have a specified licensee? If not, is there a legitimate reason for this?
Was there any particular reason it was not registered to the council offices being 1 Joaquina Street, York WA 6302 in the first place, being the official address of the tavern owner?
Does this raise any questions regarding your liabilities, if any?
These are just questions- however do you have the right legally correct answers?
Kind regards
David Taylor
The following questions have been raised with authorities regarding the legal status of the Forrest Tavern/ Bar & Cafe.
1. Although owned and controlled by a Local Government Shire has its operations been in breach of the Trade Practices Act and, Fair Trading Laws?
2. is it registered as a company under the Liquor Control Act 1988 and, if so, should it be investigated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission under Australian Insolvency Law?
3. Has it been in continuous breach of the terms and conditions of trade required by a Tavern Licence under WA Liquor Licencing Regulations?
Dated April 26
Hon Paul Papalia
Minister for Racing, Gaming & Liquor
and Tourism
10th Floor Dumas House
2 Havelock Street
WEST PERTH, WA 6005
Dear Minister,
Your Ref: -
LOCAL SHIRE OWNED TAVERN AT YORK
versus
COMMONWEALTH TRADE PRACTICES ACT
& FAIR TRADING LAWS
I wish you the best in covering your
responsibilities as both the Minister for Tourism and Racing, Gaming and Liquor.
Each of these portfolios is extremely important to the state’s economy and
future.
The industry synergies are obvious along with both the positive and potentially negative impact they could have on each other in certain circumstances.
In April 2013, I lodged a complaint with the then new Minister for Local Government, Tony Simpson, and the WA Department of Liquor Licencing (DLL) regarding the potential negatives of a Local Government Area Shire being granted a ‘Tavern’ Liquor Licence.
I believed it could cause serious financial damage to privately owned taverns, hotels and ancillary license holders such as several restaurants and or cafes in a small, rural town such as York.
The industry synergies are obvious along with both the positive and potentially negative impact they could have on each other in certain circumstances.
In April 2013, I lodged a complaint with the then new Minister for Local Government, Tony Simpson, and the WA Department of Liquor Licencing (DLL) regarding the potential negatives of a Local Government Area Shire being granted a ‘Tavern’ Liquor Licence.
I believed it could cause serious financial damage to privately owned taverns, hotels and ancillary license holders such as several restaurants and or cafes in a small, rural town such as York.
I raised the
issue that hell-would-freeze-over before local liquor licence holders in the
City of Nedlands would allow the Council to open a competitive tavern in that
city.
The clear moral and ethical issues were ‘Competive Neutralities’ and ‘Conflicts of Interest’ with a shire using municipal funds to fully and unfairly compete against established local liquor-licenced outlets.
The potential consequences were beyond belief and unfortunately have come true, causing chaos in the liquor, restaurant, accommodation and the tourism industry as a whole in one of Australia’s most historic, iconic towns.
The catalyst for this disaster was a Royalties for Regions grant allied to the commercial stupidity of the Shire of York Council and its senior Public Service Officers that has led to $15.8 million financial fiasco.
The clear moral and ethical issues were ‘Competive Neutralities’ and ‘Conflicts of Interest’ with a shire using municipal funds to fully and unfairly compete against established local liquor-licenced outlets.
The potential consequences were beyond belief and unfortunately have come true, causing chaos in the liquor, restaurant, accommodation and the tourism industry as a whole in one of Australia’s most historic, iconic towns.
The catalyst for this disaster was a Royalties for Regions grant allied to the commercial stupidity of the Shire of York Council and its senior Public Service Officers that has led to $15.8 million financial fiasco.
This letter was written and sent straight after the 2013 WA State Election:
WELCOME TO YOUR LOCAL NATIONALS SHIRE OF YORK TAVERN
WELCOME TO YOUR LOCAL NATIONALS SHIRE OF YORK TAVERN
Dear Sir-
As the Nationals come to grips with no longer being roosters in the parliamentary henhouse on the hill, the WA Government is still attempting to solve the accelerating problem of binge drinking and alcohol fueled violence.
It is with no thanks to its former balance of power-broking partner who managed to get an unrestricted Tavern Licence for a Shire in the Central Wheatbelt Electorate, just prior to the last State Election.
Skeptics could say this was the Nationals ‘Royalties for Regions’ finest hour of pork barreling.
The lucky lotto winner was the Shire of York. The licence issued to an edifice, the York Convention and Recreation Centre, part funded by the Royalties for Regions scheme in Brendon Grills’ former electorate.
It would have had the stamp of approval of Nationals MP, Terry Waldron, and Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor.
In its application the Shire of York requested the right to open its Tavern bar for up to, a staggering, 94 hours per week so there is an obvious alcohol sale, profit motivated, and liquor licence ownership conundrum here.
The Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor’s (RGL) excuse is it supports local governments shaping the way liquor is sold and supplied in their communities
But this should not mean Shires own the ‘watering hole’ down the road. Shire Councils have absolutely no certified expertise in any matter pertaining directly to the effects of the distribution, sale and consumption of alcohol or being an appropriate licensee.
The RGL states In accordance with sections 39 and 40 of the Liquor Control Act 1988 an applicant for a (Liquor) licence must submit Local Government Certificates demonstrating compliance with a number of Acts, mainly concerning the Local Government Act 1995, any other law relating to sewerage and drainage and specific town planning scheme matters.
This is hardly an endorsement of the ability of a Shire to own a Tavern and be allowed to profit from selling alcohol and food to the financial detriment of local business owners.
However it does allow for a Shire Council to be its own judge and jury in much of the application process for its own licence.
This was a lucky break for the Shire of York as its imbecilic application approval process took 15 months because it could not properly define what ‘in-the-community- interest’ means.
It is hardly surprising there were some ‘community interest’ difficulties.
This small rural town already had a combined total of one hotel and two taverns, (as well as a number of licenced cafes) and two Liquor sales outlets with some forced to trade at reduced hours because of lack of customers. One hotel had already closed.
What is missing now is community sporting club licences specifically geared to meet the needs of members and the local sporting community to assist in their fund raising.
It also raises the issue of how the third tier of Australian Government is allowed to compete directly against private enterprise by being granted the commercial licence to do so by a fellow government agency.
Nobody begrudges sporting teams having a relaxing tipple in their own bar, in their Shire owned sports and recreation center complex under an appropriate sporting venue liquor licence held by the sporting clubs.
An Unrestricted Tavern Licence granted to the Shire itself is a local government- profit motivated -overkill.
The response from the Director General of Liquor Licencing, Barry Sargeant, via his department, is there is no legal impediment to him granting a Tavern Licence to a local government shire. I am assuming he means under The Liquor Licencing Act, 1988
In fact the only reason the Shire of York obtained this licence, after failing miserably to meet the application criteria is that the DLL, at the eleventh hour, basically wrote the application for it. Also through Barry Sargeant, the Minister, Terry Waldron, demanded that the application be approved.
As the Nationals come to grips with no longer being roosters in the parliamentary henhouse on the hill, the WA Government is still attempting to solve the accelerating problem of binge drinking and alcohol fueled violence.
It is with no thanks to its former balance of power-broking partner who managed to get an unrestricted Tavern Licence for a Shire in the Central Wheatbelt Electorate, just prior to the last State Election.
Skeptics could say this was the Nationals ‘Royalties for Regions’ finest hour of pork barreling.
The lucky lotto winner was the Shire of York. The licence issued to an edifice, the York Convention and Recreation Centre, part funded by the Royalties for Regions scheme in Brendon Grills’ former electorate.
It would have had the stamp of approval of Nationals MP, Terry Waldron, and Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor.
In its application the Shire of York requested the right to open its Tavern bar for up to, a staggering, 94 hours per week so there is an obvious alcohol sale, profit motivated, and liquor licence ownership conundrum here.
The Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor’s (RGL) excuse is it supports local governments shaping the way liquor is sold and supplied in their communities
But this should not mean Shires own the ‘watering hole’ down the road. Shire Councils have absolutely no certified expertise in any matter pertaining directly to the effects of the distribution, sale and consumption of alcohol or being an appropriate licensee.
The RGL states In accordance with sections 39 and 40 of the Liquor Control Act 1988 an applicant for a (Liquor) licence must submit Local Government Certificates demonstrating compliance with a number of Acts, mainly concerning the Local Government Act 1995, any other law relating to sewerage and drainage and specific town planning scheme matters.
This is hardly an endorsement of the ability of a Shire to own a Tavern and be allowed to profit from selling alcohol and food to the financial detriment of local business owners.
However it does allow for a Shire Council to be its own judge and jury in much of the application process for its own licence.
This was a lucky break for the Shire of York as its imbecilic application approval process took 15 months because it could not properly define what ‘in-the-community- interest’ means.
It is hardly surprising there were some ‘community interest’ difficulties.
This small rural town already had a combined total of one hotel and two taverns, (as well as a number of licenced cafes) and two Liquor sales outlets with some forced to trade at reduced hours because of lack of customers. One hotel had already closed.
What is missing now is community sporting club licences specifically geared to meet the needs of members and the local sporting community to assist in their fund raising.
It also raises the issue of how the third tier of Australian Government is allowed to compete directly against private enterprise by being granted the commercial licence to do so by a fellow government agency.
Nobody begrudges sporting teams having a relaxing tipple in their own bar, in their Shire owned sports and recreation center complex under an appropriate sporting venue liquor licence held by the sporting clubs.
An Unrestricted Tavern Licence granted to the Shire itself is a local government- profit motivated -overkill.
The response from the Director General of Liquor Licencing, Barry Sargeant, via his department, is there is no legal impediment to him granting a Tavern Licence to a local government shire. I am assuming he means under The Liquor Licencing Act, 1988
In fact the only reason the Shire of York obtained this licence, after failing miserably to meet the application criteria is that the DLL, at the eleventh hour, basically wrote the application for it. Also through Barry Sargeant, the Minister, Terry Waldron, demanded that the application be approved.
In its first application the Shire of York specifically requested a Tavern Licence. When the application was resubmitted it was for an unspecified ‘Liquor Licence’- that actually does not exist. Liquor Licences are made up of a number of specific licences with specified functions
The Department of Liquor Licencing assisted newly found ‘in the community interest’ version was some 13 months after the original Shire version.
When asked why the change in the application from ‘Tavern Licence’ to the innocuous, unspecified, therefore non –existent ‘Liquor Licence’ Sargeant’s response is that all interested respondents would have remembered that the original request was for a Tavern Licence.
Sargeant also said the Shire of York had a proven record of good governance and
financial accountability so it was an ideal applicant for a Tavern Licence.
ORIGINAL LETTER ENDS
ORIGINAL LETTER ENDS
Both these responses could have been proven as false and misleading. In
particular this shire was already being questioned on its lack of good
governance and financial practices including withholding the required disclosure of exorbitant corporate credit card use.
The current situation regarding the Shire and its Forrest Tavern, recently rebadged as the Forrest Bar and Café is perfectly well explained in the local social media website’ The Real Voice of York’ that can be easily accessed through “Google’ by your staff.
The 2017 Shire of York Council appears to be little better than the 2013 version, particularly with regard to Tavern Licence ownership, although now having requested community submissions regarding its future.
What should have occurred at least twelve months ago was a local plebiscite to be distributed to all adult members of the community asking a very simple question- ‘Should the Shire of York be the licencee of the Forrest Tavern- YES or NO- tick the box.
The submissions would have been automatically simplified by the result of the plebiscite.
The Forrest Tavern, now Forrest Bar and Café has rarely met licencing regulations on opening hours, provided substantial meals when required to do so at certain opening times and has held many café-style ‘Coffee & Cake events in direct competition with several local cafes who hold no form of liquor licence.
This was a deliberate attempt to create a new income stream to the detriment of non-competitive businesses as the financial viability of the Tavern collapsed.
The current situation regarding the Shire and its Forrest Tavern, recently rebadged as the Forrest Bar and Café is perfectly well explained in the local social media website’ The Real Voice of York’ that can be easily accessed through “Google’ by your staff.
The 2017 Shire of York Council appears to be little better than the 2013 version, particularly with regard to Tavern Licence ownership, although now having requested community submissions regarding its future.
What should have occurred at least twelve months ago was a local plebiscite to be distributed to all adult members of the community asking a very simple question- ‘Should the Shire of York be the licencee of the Forrest Tavern- YES or NO- tick the box.
The submissions would have been automatically simplified by the result of the plebiscite.
The Forrest Tavern, now Forrest Bar and Café has rarely met licencing regulations on opening hours, provided substantial meals when required to do so at certain opening times and has held many café-style ‘Coffee & Cake events in direct competition with several local cafes who hold no form of liquor licence.
This was a deliberate attempt to create a new income stream to the detriment of non-competitive businesses as the financial viability of the Tavern collapsed.
The question
is has the Shire of York, using public money in its own commercial interest
been in breach of The Trade Practices Act and or Fair Trading Laws including
has its Tavern been trading while insolvent.
As the new Minister in both portfolios covering this problem, it is a position that requires a legal answer, possibly with the assistance of the Attorney General, John Quigley?
Yours sincerely
David Taylor.
As the new Minister in both portfolios covering this problem, it is a position that requires a legal answer, possibly with the assistance of the Attorney General, John Quigley?
Yours sincerely
David Taylor.
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