In February 2020, the Queensland Government announced a $27.25 million package to support Queensland businesses and industry hit hard by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.

With the downturn in tourist numbers from China, support for our tourism operators and hospitality providers is a high priority for the government.

The economic impact on Queensland’s tourism and hospitality industries is significant and the recovery package is a way to address some of these impacts.

My department identified that liquor licensees across the state may benefit from varying their trading hours and/or their licensed area to manage a potential reduction in patronage.

To support this, fees associated with the following applications have been waived for a six-month period, backdated from 1 February 2020 to 31 July 2020:

  • temporary or permanent change of licensed area
  • temporary or permanent change of trading hours

Examples of how this may benefit licensees include when a licensee:

  • who has extended trading hours may want to revert to standard hours of 10am to 12 midnight, or
  • may want to operate their business from a different area of their licensed venue to attract more customers, or provide catering facilities for private function held on premises.

Licensees who have already paid the application fees associated with any of the licence applications listed above after 1 February 2020, will be refunded automatically.

 

If you require further information, please call 13 QGOV (13 74 68) and ask to speak with a member of OLGRs Liquor Licensing team or visit  www.business.qld.gov.au/liquor-gaming.

You can also find out more details at  qld.gov.au/about/industry-recovery