Pubs to benefit from change to responsible serving of alcohol rules, but Queensland not included

Queensland has not signed on with the new Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) program, which is frustrating for publicans in northern NSW.

Wests Entertainment group chief executive Rod Laing said, while he doesn't see too many interstate workers coming in without their NSW accreditation, most of them do come from up north.

"Over the years we've had just a small handful, but I see the change being more about common sense than anything else," he said.

"Most have definitely come from Queensland, not so much from Victoria or other states, but individuals have had their training completed from Queensland, but this rules them out."

Tamworth MP and Minister for Hospitality Kevin Anderson said he was confident the new program would be useful, even without the northern neighbours.

"AMR has great potential to benefit areas such as Tamworth, as it enables hospitality workers on working holidays around Australia to use their existing RSA credentials, as well as those looking to move interstate," he said.

READ ALSO:

"We know the hospitality sector is struggling at the moment, that is why the NSW Government is committed to standing shoulder to shoulder with the industry while they recover from the impacts of COVID, through initiatives like AMR and the free RSA certificates, which has seen a great take up in the Tamworth region."

The move has, overall, been received positively though, and is set to streamline the employment of people moving from interstate, which Mr Anderson is hoping provides a boost to hospitality worker numbers.

Pub Group general operations manager Michael Squires said the decision is a good one, and the red tape involved beforehand had seemed silly to him.

"I've got a young bloke who's started here that had been working in Victoria and he just had to do his RSA again," he said.

"If you went through and nitpicked each state you'd probably find a couple points of difference but not enough, I always thought it was a bit ridiculous that you have to retrain when you go to a different state.

"I don't know if this means that hospitality in NSW is now able to attract more staff, I guess the answer will be in the numbers."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: