There can be no justification for refusing to allow small bars to operate in a civilised society.

Hurrah for civilisation! All you need is deregulation, a footpath with a handrail, and Heineken at $6 a bottle.

“All you people wanting more oranges better stop complaining about all the apples”.

Brilliant!

The proposal is that anyone can open up a small bar, & provide a service & ambience which is not provided by the protected & mollycoddled closed shop?

Just so long as none of the commenters arguing in favour of this do not then (or have not in the past) hypocritcally banged on about workchoices being bad.

The following scores apply if these indicia exceed the state average by 5 or more percentage points:

Persons aged 15 or more with no qualifications - 2
Aborginal or Torres Strait Islander people - 4
Recent migrants from non-English speaking countries - 0.5
Occupied private dwellings with 2 or more families - 0.5
Households renting - 0.5
One parent families with dependent children - 2
Males (in labour force) unemployed - 3
Females (in labour force) unemployed - 3
Employed males classified as labourers and related workers - 1
Employed females classified as labourers and related workers - 1

A score of 8 classifies your application as high risk. A licence will not be granted unless the applicant establishes “compelling evidence of mitigation measures which demonstrably address these high risk factors”, whatever that means and however that might be achieved.

Of course WA Inc was a true scandal, and the tag is perhaps a overreach on my part.

However the cosy collusion between business and government effected through the donations of an industry lobby group is clearly not in the interest of the electorate.

What’s the scale of donation?

The hotel industry donated more than $3 million to the New South Wales Labor Party in the seven years to July 2005.

Clearly the industry is contributing to the party in power in NSW but significant donations also go to the Coalition opposition. In the same period the Liberal and National parties received about $1.2 million.

[link]

US law professor Lawrence Lessig has gone so far as to label this kind of arrangement a corrupting influence on policy-making.

I want us to discuss “corruption” in a very particular sense. I’m not interested in overt lawbreaking or outright bribery (e.g., Congressman X takes $50,000 personally to vote Nay on a particular bill); I am instead interested in non-obvious corruption–instances where a decision is improperly and/or subtly influenced by a government actor’s anticipation of some sort of indirect economic gain or loss. Where a person in power is motivated more by, e.g., money to their campaign, support for favored research, etc., than the interests they claim to or otherwise should be advancing.

[link]

This echoes some of the findings in the WA Inc Royal Commission:

Some ministers elevated… party advantage over their constitutional obligation to act in the public interest.

[link]

Hopefully one day we’ll all be chuckling about this over a cold beer in a small bar in a quiet back lane on a sunny afternoon.

It puts me in mind of the old tag for state labour governments of the past: “NSW Inc�.

Are you referring to WA Inc? That was an actual corporate entity, not a mere tag. Also, Labor is spelt thusly.

I’ve just been travelling in Japan where small interesting bars abound - in Tokyo’s Golden Gai district the bars are famously small, accomodating only a few people. They’re great fun, and precisely the sort of warm, small-scale, granular experience that delights visitors and locals alike. In Kyoto these small varied bars are riddled throughout areas like Pontocho Rd.

What would Sydney be like with this sort of experience on offer down small lanes in the CBD, or in inner-city suburbs such as Newtown, Glebe, Darlinghurst, or urban centres such as Rockdale, Campsie or Leichhardt. It’d be pretty good.

The LDP supports full competition in the liquor and hospitality industry.

The LDP is now moving up my preferences list past the Free Beer Party. I can just tell they’re not serious. Unlike youse blokes.

Local councils will knock back anything if they get a single complaint from a resident.

But the real problem in Perth previously was the fact that the “Public Needs Test” effectively placed a hard cap on the number of bars in each area, a cap that reached sometime in the late 1970s.

The LDP supports full competition in the liquor and hospitality industry.

but who do we replace them with jo? Surely not the Libs?

absolutely not shaun, this seems to be most people’s default position, but as i posted above - i’d like to see a renewal of nsw labor - pie in the sky maybe!! - but surely, they must know themselves that they are totally out of new ideas, and are going down big time & for a lengthy period out of office, unless there is an across-the-board renewal of personnel.

it would be v. good to see some fresh policies and talent moving into the party, in readiness for the 2011 election.

if rudd is elected (cross fingers), there might be some real movement in terms of health/education/transport etc. and it seems like a opportune time for progressive types to focus on state issues again, if the Feds are doing a half decent job - again - we wont know until (cross fingers– i’m becoming OCD!!) rudd is elected.

Thorpe may be on the money in some really ‘bush’ places Shawn but I’d suggest for the large part of non-metropolitan NSW he’s way out

Agreed Pablo. Here on the Central Coast a few wine bars would make a big difference. And I know the odd North Coast town where a few small bars would go down a treat.

the nsw labor govt. are the next target after getting rid of howard.

I agree but who do we replace them with jo? Surely not the Libs?

unlike a lot of punters, they’re well travelled and probably spend more down-time outside the reach of the AHA’s grip on sydney’s drinking culture.

imo, the nsw labor govt. are the next target after getting rid of howard. they are seriously fcuked and the only way nsw isn’t looking at 10 years of liberal govt, is for a complete renewal of nsw labor. getting rid of howard might prove an easier job, though!

hopefully, another outcome will be the opening up of different sorts of bar/music/cafes etc - outside the city centre and inner city. it must be a real shit living in the west for eg. and having to travel miles back and forth to get a different kulture hit.

on that question - did the whole bar/cafe/music scene in vic travel beyond the inner melb. metro areas? (i’ve been meaning to get south of the border again, haven’t been back since 2000.)