'Insufficient' relief for businesses affected by Civic construction

The ACT government should consider stronger relief for businesses affected by construction work and establish a dedicated night-time economy commissioner, a review of Canberra's night life has found.

Restaurants and other businesses would be forced to shut their doors without more action to address car park access and construction disruptions, according to findings from the ACT Legislative Assembly committee tasked with investigating the city's night-time economy.

The committee's report, made public on Friday, made 28 recommendations to improve what the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) said was "a little bit of a struggle" for the industry.

"The general economic climate is really, really tough for the hospitality industry," AHA ACT branch general manager Chris Gatfield said.

"That's not necessarily just related to the various infrastructure projects that are going on in the city.

But the committee accepted that there had been "insufficient" relief for businesses affected by light rail and car park constructions.

It recommended the ACT government "consider offering stronger temporary relief measures for businesses adversely affected by ongoing disruptions associated with major infrastructure works in the city, such as means-tested rent relief".

Anna Gray, the owner of Charcoal Restaurant in the Melbourne building in Civic, said her turnover had reduced by 50 per cent since parts of London Circuit closed in 2024.

"Customers don't want to come because there's no parking," she said.

Mr Gatfield said businesses need cash flow, but he doubted they would get it.

"This will be a decision for government and so far I'm not convinced that they would be in a position to offer that kind of financial support," he said.

"You really want the people who are suffering right now to be there to reap the benefits when construction is finished and people return to the city."

The committee also found businesses were battling a "multi-agency maze" of red tape to stay open.

Fiction Nightclub operator Josh Dotta gave evidence that he routinely interacted with 10 separate government agencies, while other stakeholders criticised the "silos" and "disconnected sections of government".

"Anyone who's ever dealt with a government agency would recognise that sometimes it's very hard to get the person that you actually need to talk to on the phone," Mr Gatfield said.

Although the ACT has a dedicated minister for the night-time economy, the committee said a night-time economy commissioner would support that role.

The commissioner would consult the industry before major decisions, establish progress metrics, develop a more streamlined red-tape system, support culturally and linguistically diverse workers and take advice from a dedicated advisory group, the recommendations said.

"We think it has legs in Canberra and if it works in other places there's absolutely no reason why it wouldn't work here too," Mr Gatfield said.

Evidence from the AHA also found liquor licence fees in the ACT were significantly higher than other jurisdictions, prompting a recommendation for a review, especially for larger venues that can host more than 350 people.

A 500-capacity venue closing at 3am pays just over $22,000 a year in liquor licensing fees, compared to just under $7,900 in NSW.

The ACT government told the committee the jurisdictions could not be compared because of differences in the underlying policy frameworks and regulatory schemes.

Other recommendations included incentives for venues to feature live music, entertainment and art events.

The government is yet to respond to the report.