This Australian Capital City Just Got Longer Late-Night Drinking Hours

While other Australian capital cities are doing their best to crack down on the offensive practice of being out late at night (because as we all know, any decent, self-respecting citizen is in bed before the start of NCIS), Perth is taking the opposite route.

As WA Today reports, the western capital has basically just passed the Sunday Session into law, endorsing the weekend’s time-honoured last hurrah by extending late night trading hours on Sundays from 10pm (wtf?!) to midnight for pubs, and 2am for nightclubs.

WA Racing and Gaming Minister Colin Holt reckons the decision to keep the party going was made to “accommodate Perth’s evolving seven-day economy”. And it’s not the only change on the way.

Under new amendments to the state’s Liquor Legislation Amendment Act 2015 which were approved by parliament last November, country bottle-o’s will now be able to open on Sundays, small and medium-sized restaurants will be able sell alcohol to patrons without them having to buy a meal, and it’ll also be easier for beer and wine producers to sell their delicious wares through retail outlets, as well as the traditional cellar door.

“For hotels, pubs, taverns and small bars it’ll mean that we’re actually moved into the 21st century,” Australian Hotels Association Chief Executive Bradley Woods told the ABC. “We’re not treating Sunday as this restrictive time period where people have to be in bed by 10:30 at night.”

But while WA may be stepping into the 21st Century with what are now as far as we’re concerned state-sanctioned Monday work hangovers, other state governments around Australia are trying to cram their capital cities back into the time machine.

A parliamentary committee in Queensland is currently investigating the Labor Government’s proposal to introduce the toughest lockout laws in the country, while Sydney’s controversial liquor laws have sparked a backlash from politicians, celebritiesmusicians, media, everyday punters and even Barack Obama one time, as more than a dozen venues across Kings Cross and the CBD have carked it since their introduction.

Sydney’s lockout laws are due for formal review in February 2016.

Cheers to that.

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