Compliance And License Requirements In The Hospitality Industry In New South Wales, Australia

Identifying Sources of Information for Compliance and Licensing

Compliance:  The Australian Business License and Information Service complies with providing all the information regarding laws and licensing for business operations in the state of New South Wales in Australia.

Operation: The Australian Business License and Information Service is an informative source, which helps in providing valuable information about the laws and licensing and required permits for business operations in New South Wales.

Function and Purpose:  The Australian Business License and Information Service help the residents of New South Wales regarding any business related problems. It also helps in providing business suggestions to the residents of New South Wales in Australia The Australian Business License and Information Service Australia provides may options to people who want to commence a business such as the sole entrepreneurship, various forms of partnerships, proprietary limited company, cooperatives and others (“ABLIS | Enabling business”, 2017).

The competition and the consumer legislation in New South Wales helps the consumers residing in New South Wales to understand the qualities of the differently priced goods and services, the types of goods and services which are more better applicable for personal use than for commercial use and vice versa. The competition and the consumer legislation in Australia also help in displaying the competition level among the companies producing similar products to the interested consumers. The competition and the consumer legislation in New South Wales covers many important things in its portfolio, which are the provision of security to product and service quality, awareness of harmful indulgence in consumerism and their possible penalties and the conduct of all business establishments (Corones 2014).

The hotel license requirement in Australia covers many important aspects of the hospitality sector. Regarding the alcohol and gaming, New South Wales specifies certain important principles such as no advances in cash are permitted, availability of food is necessary; the accessibility of hotels to the public is required. The business hours of the hotels are constricted on the weekdays to nineteen hours and on holidays; they are supposed to keep the shutters down. In NSW, the hotels must ensure the maximum security to their guests. The expense of obtaining a hotel license is $2500 Australian dollars along with other yearly payments. The obligation of the hotel licenses in Australia are generally maintained by the residents of New South Wales. The severe fines and sometimes a prison term are the pressurizing factor in the public obligation of the hotel licenses in Australia (Awad 2012).

The managers in the hospitality, travel and tourism industry can receive updated information on the laws and licensing requirements from the various government websites regulated frequently by the government of Australia. Some examples are the well known-The Australian Business License and Information Service and the Hotel license-Liquor and Gaming NSW and others. In addition to this, regular updated templates carrying the updated version of information on laws and licensing requirements are provided by the New South Wales government to all the licensed hoteliers and managers in the hospitality sector. In addition to this, business television news and radio telecasts can also keep the managers and the hoteliers updated about any new license requirements. In NSW, the managers and the hoteliers could share the updated information with their colleagues by holding various seminars, meetings or by distributing brochures among themselves. These will keep everyone in the hospitality sector updated and well informed (Brotherton 2012).

Object of Competition and Consumer Legislation

The legislation and the workplace policies and procedures in New South Wales in Australia share a very close relationship. The national as well as the state legislation policies in New South Wales helps in the regulation and maintenance of the workplace policies and procedures. The legislatory bodies constantly check on the rightful application of the required policies and procedures. Some team members from the legislation constantly visit all the registered offices and companies to check and supervise the implementation of the workplace policies and procedures. The employees are constantly asked for their appraisal and confirmation by the government regarding the implementation of the workplace policies and procedures. Any deviation from the application of the policies and procedures by a firm or a company may cause forceful shutdown of the business and face possible prison term in the light of dishonesty and fraudulence. Therefore, it can be said that the legislation contributes massively to the management of the regulatory compliance (Christensen and Schneider 2015).

A restaurant can be taken as a case of regulatory authority of relevance to the tourism, hospitality or travel industry in NSW in Australia. The necessary functions of a restaurant in NSW would be to manage and ensure the hygiene and safety of the food, employ and train overseers and look after the monetary balance sheets. In addition to this, the restaurant also has the function to look after the overall performance of the back stage operations, the chefs and the front stage operations, the waiters. The operating procedures state that  a restaurant must be the holder of a valid business license from the NSW food authority in case of the usage of the food particles of meat, seafood, crabs, milk and others. The restaurant must keep the premises, both the outside and the inside, safe and clean, in terms of the updated health and safety protocols of the New South Wales government health committee. The restaurant must avail the services of all the forms of Medias such as print, radio, television, internet for the promotion and publicity of the restaurant. The regulatory authority must pay the due taxes to the government such as the Goods and service tax under the Australian centre of taxation. Other important taxes, which the restaurant must pay dutifully to the government, are the payroll tax and the land tax, which is calculated on the land of the restaurant property. The regulatory authorities must also check regularly with the updated information regarding licenses and other permits through the websites, news telecasts and seminars. The ACCC is a self-governing agency of the government of Australia. The ACCC plays a major role in the trade practice of a restaurant. The ACCC monitors the whole operations of a restaurant business such as it checks its unlawful actions and takes punitive action if such is committed; it enforces the rights of the consumers and provides them protection. In addition to this, the ACCC inspects the safety of the food and the cooking gas devices used in a restaurant. These are the reasons why ACCC needs to exist and how its powers can be applied in a restaurant business. Overall, the regulatory authority must be keen to provide good hospitality treatment to the consumers and become a good corporate citizen of NSW as well as of Australia (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully 2013).

Template for workplace policies –

Name of Policy	Work place policy regarding health and safety
Person Responsible	Human Resource Manager and The Operations Manager
Who wrote	Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Date written	6th December 2011
Version	Historical version for 7 June 2011 to 27 November 2011
Legislation	This act covers all the implementation policies of the health and safety duties by the directors and the managers in ensuring a favorable workplace for the employees.
Equal opportunity	The act ensures that all employees in a workplace can have the equal opportunity to avail the health and safety benefits in a workplace.
Infectious diseases	In the case of infectious diseases, the act states that organizations must provide paid leave to the employees and additional beneficiary incentives, if required.
Safe transport	The act states that the organizations must provide safe transportation facilities to the employees in case of any emergency or sudden change of business location.
Smoke free	The act states that all office buildings now must have complete smoke free zones for public safety and health issue.
Alcohol Management	Alcohol is strictly prohibited in a workplace because it compromises the security and efficiency of a workplace.

Maintenance of health and safety in a workplace by the directors and managers in terms of legal responsibilities and liabilities are extremely important in NSW. The directors and the managers have the responsibilities that all the machines and equipments in a workplace must be properly maintained and usefully sterilized, faulty machines must be repaired and if repairing is not possible, then they must be discarded completely. One important thing, which is done by the managers and the directors in the maintenance of health and security in the workplace in NSW, is keeping an updated version of a perpetuation log for all the machines. The managers and the directors must keep the health and safety conditions in the workplace in terms with the standard safety protocols issued by the Australian government. The liabilities of the managers in terms of health and safety in the workplace are that they will be deemed to be felonious of a punishable offence under the official court of law. The business licenses of the directors and the managers can be forfeited by law and they may have to cease their operations for an indefinite period of time. In addition to this, proper compensation must be paid to the employees in case of the occurrence of any unfortunate accidents (Dollard et al. 2012).

References 

ABLIS | Enabling business. 2017. Ablis.business.gov.au. Retrieved 26 October 2017, from https://ablis.business.gov.au

Awad, A., 2012. Checking in: investors from overseas, particularly Asia, can see real value in Australian hotel assets. Property Australia, 26(11), p.26.

Brotherton, B. ed., 2012. International Hospitality Industry. Routledge.

Christensen, K. and Schneider, B. eds., 2015. Workplace flexibility: Realigning 20th-century jobs for a 21st-century workforce. Cornell University Press.

Corones, S.G., 2014. Competition law in Australia. Thomson Reuters Australia, Limited.

Dollard, M.F., Bailey, T., McLinton, S., Richards, P., McTernan, W., Taylor, A. and Bond, S., 2012. The Australian Workplace Barometer: Report on psychosocial safety climate and worker health in Australia. Centre for Applied Psychological Research, University of South Australia.

Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Routledge.