Perth Voice Interactive

WOOLWORTHS has lodged a liquor licence application for its controversial 990sqm Dan Murphy’s at the Maylands Peninsula Tavern.

It was lodged with the WA department of racing gaming and liquor.

Labor Maylands MP Lisa Baker plans to lodge an official objection to the licence in a last gasp attempt to kill the project.

“That’s nearly the area of an entire football field of our suburb dedicated to selling cheap grog,” she says.

“If this plan goes ahead, it will pave the way for other big liquor barns to move into this small community, which is already battling issues of street drinking and antisocial behaviour.

“…a Dan Murphy’s in the centre of Maylands is not in the public interest.”

“Residents are overwhelmingly opposed to this plan, with more than 80 per cent saying a Dan Murphy’s in the centre of Maylands is not in the public interest.”

Ms Baker says locals support the $3.5 million revamp of the Maylands Peninsula Tavern, but not the bottleshop element of the proposal.

The bottleshop won planning approval from the unelected but powerful state administrative tribunal after earlier being rejected by both the locally elected Bayswater city council and the local planning assessment panel.

In 2010 Ms Baker spearheaded a campaign that stopped Coles building a similar outlet on Guildford Road.

Maylands is home to a number of agencies, including Shopfront, Autumn Centre and 55 Central, that tackle the impact of alcoholism.

Reverend Chris Albany from the nearby St Luke’s Church, which hosts local AA meetings, has joined the chorus of opposition.

“The last thing that the Maylands area needs is a large discount liquor store,” he says. “The area houses services for people who have had alcohol problems in the past, and it’s a mainly residential area.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK