The Victorian and Queensland licensing regulators have announced favourable late-trading conditions for New Year’s Eve for pubs.
The November VCGLR bulletin heralded automatic trading extension for willing venues, in recognition of the special circumstances of NYE.
This involves an extension to 1am for hotel licences trading until midnight, and until 3am for late-trading licences.
The extended trading times remain at the discretion of the licensee, and are subject to individual licence conditions and local permits.
Operators wishing to trade beyond these times can lodge an application with VCGLR (Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation), but the inner-city municipalities of the City(s) of Melbourne, Yarra, Stonnington, and Port Phillip are currently under a late-night freeze beyond 1am, and extensions to this will only be granted under certain conditions.
The Queensland OLGR (Office of Liquor & Gaming Regulation) has announced that trading extensions for NYE will now be easier for hoteliers to secure.
This comes as a result of the Commissioner designating NYE as a ‘special occasion’ of significance to people independent of a venue, and that 5am would be a ‘reasonable time’ to cease trading after the special occasion.
Licensees may now apply to OLGR to extend trading hours to any time between 2am and 5am (for 1 January).
NSW Liquor & Gaming details normal trading conditions for hotels on 31 December and 1 January, and confirmed to PubTIC this is unlikely to change.
