Retail Drinks Australia (Retail Drinks) is calling on the NSW Government to urgently address what it describes as discriminatory and anti-competitive ANZAC Day trading laws.

Retail Drinks said the laws continue to unfairly target thousands of bottle shops across the state, most of which are small, family owned and operated businesses.

For the second year running, around 80% of packaged liquor retailers across NSW will be forced to close on ANZAC Day, while almost every other liquor licence category, including hotels, clubs, bars, restaurants and cafes, will be permitted to trade and sell takeaway alcohol.

“These are discriminatory and anti-competitive laws that single out small, family-owned businesses while allowing their direct competitors to operate freely. That is not fairness, its distortion,” said Retail Drinks CEO Michael Waters.

One independent liquor retailer, who operates three small regional stores, has calculated that the additional public holiday cost imposed by the Government’s recent decision will add approximately $1150 in wages to his business for a single day, which is the equivalent of having to sell an extra 200 cartons of beer, at less than $6 gross profit per carton, simply to break even.

“That is the reality for many of our member stores, two hundred cartons of beer just to stand still. That is the scale of the impact we are talking about.” Waters said.

Retail Drinks said the compounding effect of forced ANZAC Day closure combined with an additional public holiday has placed extraordinary strain on operators already dealing with rising operating costs.

“Our ANZACs fought for Australians to have a fair go. These laws are not that,” Waters said. “We respect ANZAC Day deeply and our members commemorate it appropriately and support their local communities. But respect for the day should not mean punishing one part of the liquor industry while exempting others.”

Retail Drinks reiterated that it is not seeking to diminish the significance of ANZAC Day, but rather to restore equity across the NSW liquor and hospitality sector and ensure that packaged liquor retailers, their employees, and their loyal customers are not disproportionately disadvantaged.

“As ANZAC Day approaches, the Government has an opportunity to correct this inequity. Liquor retailers deserve fairness and a level playing field, not selective closures and compounding costs.” Waters said.