Avalon residents challenging a proposed Dan Murphy’s liquor licence have taken their concerns to a tribunal, arguing some nearby households may not have been properly notified about the application.
The dispute centres on a proposed Dan Murphy’s bottle shop at 1-3 Careel Head Road, Avalon Beach, which was the subject of a packaged liquor licence application lodged in December 2025.
Community Participation in Focus
While the battle has now reached the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, many locals say the issue stretches beyond the liquor licence itself. At the heart of the challenge is whether residents living near the site were given adequate notice of a development that could affect their neighbourhood.
Community groups opposing the licence, including the Palm Beach & Whale Beach Residents Association and the Careel Bay Residents Association, argue that notification requirements were not properly met. Their case points to independent investigations that allegedly uncovered residents within the designated notification zone who were unaware the application had been lodged.
That concern has become a defining issue in the appeal. If residents were not informed, opponents argue, they were effectively denied the opportunity to submit objections during the assessment process.
Questions Over Notification Boundaries
The notification dispute gained further attention after residents identified what they describe as conflicting maps used to define the 100-metre notification radius around the proposed store.
According to the groups involved in the challenge, neither map accurately reflected the site’s cadastral boundaries. Independent mapping commissioned by the opponents concluded the notification area should have extended further than shown in the applicant’s documents.
Why does that matter? Because the size of the notification area determines who receives notice of the proposal and who has the opportunity to formally respond.
Residents argue that a larger notification zone would have captured additional households, potentially broadening community participation in the process.
Approval Despite Local Concerns
The debate over notifications sits alongside broader concerns already raised about the proposal.
In its published decision, the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority acknowledged factors including alcohol-related harm indicators, domestic assault statistics, liquor outlet density and alcohol-related hospital admissions within the wider area.
Despite those findings, the licence was approved after the authority determined the development would provide greater convenience and consumer choice.
Opponents maintain that the decision placed too much weight on those benefits while giving insufficient consideration to community concerns. They also contend that Avalon is already well served by existing liquor retailers, with eight liquor outlets operating within the suburb.
Another concern raised during the appeal relates to the proposed store’s proximity to a childcare centre. Community groups argue that the licence conditions attached to the approval do not adequately address the location-specific issues highlighted during the application process.
Tribunal to Decide Next Step
Before the substance of the challenge can be fully examined, the tribunal must first determine whether the community groups and residents have standing to pursue the appeal.
The standing issue became more complicated after details relating to the 100-metre notification rule emerged shortly before an earlier hearing. Residents argue the timing left them with limited opportunity to investigate whether notification requirements had been properly followed before appeal deadlines expired.
Those arguments were placed before NCAT during an interlocutory hearing earlier this month. The tribunal is now expected to decide whether the matter can progress to a full hearing where the evidence surrounding both the approval process and community notification claims can be tested in greater detail.
For many residents, the outcome could shape more than a single liquor licence. It may determine how much say local communities have when significant developments are proposed in their own neighbourhoods.
Published Date 24-September-2026
