Ninth bottle shop proposed for Swan Hill as councils lose veto power
Victorian councils want to retain their power of veto over new liquor outlets in country towns, amid fierce debate about the links between family violence and access to alcohol.
In Swan Hill, a northern Victorian town ranked fifth in the state for family violence, mother and foster carer Bec Wolfe-Charles is among those objecting to a proposed new bottle shop.
She wants more play spaces in her neighbourhood where she can spend time with her daughter, Eloise, rather than another liquor store in a town that already has eight.
But she worries the decision to approve the bottle shop is being taken out of local hands.
From July 1, Liquor Control Victoria will take responsibility for liquor licence decisions, stripping local councils of the right to refuse planning permits.
Swan Hill's local government area has a population of 21,000.
The I Can Smell A Dead Duck company has applied for planning permission to open a ninth liquor outlet in the town, a bottle shop in a former furniture store.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Community Safety said there was no cap on the number of liquor licences allowed in one town and that Swan Hill residents will still have the opportunity to object to the application when Liquor Control Victoria puts it on public notice.
Swan Hill Rural City Council Mayor Stuart King said councils should have more, rather than less, control over new liquor store applications and is concerned that city-based bureaucrats will not properly understand what the town needs.
The owners of I Can Smell A Dead Duck have been contacted for comment.
Women's Health Loddon Mallee chief executive officer Kellie Dunn said communities like Swan Hill were right to push back.
"If they are voicing that it is not right for them and that they feel that there is a saturation [of alcohol outlets], the government really needs to listen to them as part of the planning process," Ms Dunn said.
An independent review into a Dan Murphy's store in Darwin in 2021 heard that the chain liquor store's operator, Endeavour Group, disputed the link between new bottle shops and more violence.
But public health researchers say the link is clear.
Data from the addiction treatment centre Turning Point showed that since 2018, paramedics had been called to about two alcohol-related incidents per week in Swan Hill, and alcohol was the most common drug found in intimate partner violence.
"The more alcohol that is around a community, or the higher the availability, the more domestic violence and other harms occur in that community," strategic lead Rowan Ogeil said.
Dr Ogeil said victim-survivors from socio-economic disadvantaged areas like Swan Hill were three-and-a-half times more likely to have an ambulance respond to interpersonal violence involving alcohol or drugs.
In 2015, the Royal Commission into Family Violence recommended that liquor licensing rules consider the role of alcohol in family violence.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Justice and Safety said Liquor Control Victoria already considered social harms.
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A fortnight out from the change, the head of the Municipal Association of Victoria said there was no clarity on how "this major impact" would affect local government.
"We will no longer be the people that determine whether the planning application is appropriate or not," MAV president Jennifer Anderson said.
"A lot of councils may not be aware of the legislation.
"But certainly, for those that are aware, like Swan Hill for example, it is a great concern because certain areas are known to have problems with alcohol, and so there may be areas where they have the knowledge to know this [application] is not appropriate."
Cr Anderson said the MAV and its member councils had little knowledge of the new process under Liquor Control Victoria and the Department of Planning, other than that local councils could make a submission to Liquor Control Victoria if they wanted to.
The Department of Planning has not provided a formal response to the ABC's queries.
Additionally, liquor store applications that have a floor space of at least 750 square metres trigger a community impact assessment, the spokesperson said.
The assessment measures the application against the area's social harms, such as the family violence rate, or the proximity to schools.
At 628sqm, the proposed Swan Hill bottle shop does not need a formal harm assessment to be done.
The harm assessment process was tested last year when the Victorian Liquor Commission backed Hepburn Shire Council's decision to deny an application by Endeavour Group to place a Dan Murphy's bottle shop near a school.
Endeavour Group is contesting the decision at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Swan Hill independent bottle shop owner John Charleson said the assessment criteria did not work if a town comprises one main street because a 500-metre radius was applied.
"So, the square metreage of a circle basically, a 500-metre radius in our town, really should be put into context and be taken in a long rectangular view."
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