Object to "Hooters" opening in Townsville

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[UPDATE 22/09/14] Construction of 'Hooters' restaurant abandoned

Development of the controversial Hooters Restaurant in Townsville has stalled again after almost 12 months of continuous delays.

Hooters signage has been removed and construction equipment is abandoned on the Herveys Range Rd site after development was ceased months ago. Read more at Townsville Bulletin

[UPDATED]

Hooters  is an American restaurant chain specialising in beer, wings and “beautiful girls”. Beautiful girls with beautiful "Hooters", of course.

Hooters staff are sexually objectified and recognised by their uniform - orange hot pants along with tight white singlets with the "Hooters" logo across the front. Hooters would like to open a restaurant in the suburb of Kirwan, in the same vicinity as IGA at Cannon Park.

As reported in the Townsville Bulletin:

Hooters Australia chief executive Morney Schlebusch said Townsville was the perfect place to open because of the relatively high proportion of mine workers and military men living in the city.

Mr Schlebusch said there were opportunities for 60 local women to become Hooters girls, if they were made of the right stuff.

"A Hooters girl is the girl next door that's always camera-ready," he said.

"We are after that all-Australia cheerleader type of look. "They need to be bubbly and outgoing girls that are life of the party."

"Hooters waitresses are flattery operated"

We would be very interested to know if women and girls in Townsville will have to agree to the conditions in the Hooters employment handbook as revealed in 2006.

We say 'girls' as well as women because Hooters employs girls as young as 13 years old.

From the Hooters Employee Handbook:

Female employees are required to sign that they “acknowledge and affirm” the following:

My job duties require I wear the designated Hooters Girl uniform.

My job duties require that I interact with and entertain the customers.

The Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and the work environment is one in which joking and entertaining conversations are commonplace.

I do not find my job duties, uniform requirements, or work environment to be offensive, intimidating, hostile, or unwelcome.

If mandating sexual harassment in the job description isn't bad enough, Hooters also markets itself to families with "kids eat free" style promotions.

Take Action!

Hooters has applied for a Liquor Licence and we have until the 28th October to lodge objections to the granting of this licence.

Hooters restaurant promotes the sexual objectification of women, sexism and sexual harassment. The restaurant boasts to 'reinforce the sexual appeal of the girl next door' but in doing so they undermine the equality and safety of female staff and women and girls in the community.

Objections to the Liquor License application must reference the criteria set out in the application. Because of the harm to women and girls we can object to the liquor license on the grounds that Hooters will cause "undue offence, annoyance and disturbance" to those in the community as well as an "adverse effect on the health and safety of members of the public."

Closing date for lodging an objection is 28th October, 2013.

The grounds for objection must be stated in writing and lodged with:

Licensing Officer Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation

PO Box 1885

Townsville Qld 4810

You can also lodge your objection via email: [email protected]

Businesses and organisations are also able to lodge a group objection. If you would like to write an objection please let us know in the comments below. Be sure to enter a valid email address in the email field (will not be published online) so that we can stay in contact with you about any developments. Please share widely, especially with friends and networks in Townsville.

[UPDATE]

The Townsville Bulletin has published an article about the campaign.