By Deborah Jackson, editor National Liquor News

The two-year trial which enabled packaged retail liquor outlets in NSW to trade on Boxing Day is in its final year.

The trial was announced in late 2015, following seven years of lobbying by the Liquor Stores Association of NSW (LSA NSW) and other retail industry stakeholders.

While Boxing Day remains a ‘restricted trading day’ a general exemption was created which enabled packaged retail liquor outlets to trade on 26 December on the condition that staff had freely elected to work ‘without coercion or threats made by, or on behalf of, the retailer’.

The exemption was for a two-year period with consideration for permanent reform or otherwise following the Government conducting an independent review before November 2017 (Parliament will be required to consider the matter at that time).

LSA NSW estimates that Boxing Day trading allows more than 180,000 additional customers across the state to take advantage of the convenience offered by having more liquor stores open.

Read more here.

This story first appeared in The Shout.