Country pubs are more than just a place to have a beer - they are a community meeting place, a lifeline, the wake venue, tourist information bureaus, domestic violence shelters, internet hubs, the post office and meteorology readers.
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And now the Queensland Parliament has moved closer to slashing their licence fees, so pubs in often drought-stricken tiny outback towns are not slugged thousands of dollars, like hotels in the Brisbane CBD.
Member for Mount Isa Robbie Katter introduced a bill to create a concessional commercial hotel licence fee for hotels in very remote Queensland.
It would reduce the base fee from $3630 to about $360 for about 110 hotels, and cost the Queensland government about $300,000 in lost revenue.
"We need to move away from a one-size fits all approach and recognise the small operators in remote Queensland and the service they provide to small communities," Mr Katter said.
Mr Katter said hotels in very remote areas were a social hub and provided services for outback tourism.
Speaking about a pub in his electorate in a town with a population of only 50 people, Mr Katter said there were always a few people in the hotel.
"It is a central place if there is a rodeo or if tourists are travelling through the town that is where you stop for directions. It provides the only internet service and the only accommodation in the town," he said.
"Without that pub, the town would collapse completely, along with the social fabric of the town. He is paying three and a half grand which is the same as what a pub in Brisbane pays."
The pub owner wrote Mr Katter a letter a few years ago, and said he made $38,000 the year beforehand in net profit but was paying more than $3500 in pub licence fees, the same as pubs in Brisbane.
"My accountant has told me that there is no point keeping the place open for that level of profitability, but if you visit the pub in this town it is the only commercial building in the town," he hand wrote in scratchy writing.
The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee recommended the bill be passed, after holding public discussions in Normanton, Thursday Island, Cunnamulla, Charleville, Blackall, Longreach and Hughenden.
Tom and Andrea Duddy, of the Prairie Hotel three hours west of Townsville, said bush pubs were the information centre for the district, the grocery store, meeting place and parcel drop-off.
Doug Faircloth, from Hotel Cunnamulla eight hours west of Toowoomba, said the pub provided a refuge, from domestic violence victims to people who were down on their luck.
Janelle Jackson, from Eulo Queen Hotel, more than eight hour west of Toowoomba, said she should have a tourism information job because nine out of 10 times, people walked in and said: "Where's this? Where's that? How do we get there? Who's this? Who's that? Where's that at?"
Koss Siwers, from Adavale General Store about 14 hours west of Brisbane, said he sold alcohol, provided accommodation in his home next to the hotel, sold hot drinks and food, provided information about local history to tourists as well as operating the post office, and also drove patrons home if they had too much to drink.
Adavale has a population of about 15 people, and Mr Siwers buys alcohol every two months: "I would fill the back of my car with about 10 cartons of cans, stubbies, and that is it for two months - plus maybe some mixed spirits. I do not sell a lot of alcohol."
Royal Mail Hotel owner Graham Fitch said the Hungerford pub provided the postal service, recorded Bureau of Meteorology readings and was the contact point for the Royal Flying Doctor Service - in a town of 10 people on the New South Wales border, 14 hours west of Brisbane.
Clubs Queensland was concerned clubs in very remote areas would have to pay higher licence fees than hotels, while the Queensland Hotels Association said the concessional fee should also be applied to pubs in regional and coastal areas.
Committee chair Duncan Pegg said each of the towns, they heard about the value placed on hotels in very remote areas by locals and tourists.
"It was very clear that the hotels in these communities play a vital role in supporting their local area and provide a point of information and reference for tourists as well," Mr Pegg said.
The bill will next go before Parliament for a vote.
This story first appeared on Brisbane Times.
