Adelaide CBD late-night lockout: New plan to make liquor laws even tougher
DRINKING outside, happy hours and shooters should be banned after midnight, a report on the Late Night Code has recommended, in sobering news for late-night city revellers.
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DRINKING outside, happy hours and shooters should be banned after midnight, a report on the Late Night Code has recommended, in sobering news for late-night city revellers.
The State Government has been handed a 12-month review of its Late Night Code, which introduced a 3am lockout along with other measures to curb drunken violence.
The review recommends bringing forward bans on drinking outside from 2am to midnight, offering free drinks, shooters and doubles from 4am to midnight and serving drinking in glassware from 4am to midnight.
While it says the current 3am lockout should remain in place, it recommends another review after a further 12 months pushing for a mandatory 3am closing, or “last drinks” and an earlier lockout.
The Government is today expected to release its response to the review it commissioned. The Advertiser understands that the results of the review are unlikely to lead to major changes to the current code.
Australian Hotels Association SA executive director Ian Horne said many of the recommendations seemed “extreme” and would impose extra “red tape and costs” on businesses.
“I hope the Government takes a more pragmatic approach because the success of the existing Code has only come about through cooperation between businesses and SAPOL,” he said.
The review was led by former Public Service Commissioner Warren McCann, who now heads the Government’s Internal Consultancy Services Group.
It also calls on the Government to consider instructing police to hand out on-the-spot fines for drunk and disorderly offences rather than cautions, but to reduce the minimum fine from $560 to $160.
The review advocated introducing a 3am last drinks in the next 12 months and bringing the lockout time forward to as early as 1am.
“This time (3am) is already the time entrenched in the public mind due to the current lockout. Patrons have adapted to it as have late-night licensees,” the review states.
“3am is also the same (or a similar) last drinks time to many others around Australia and the world, like the well-known Kings Cross and Newcastle times, and has also been endorsed by the new Queensland Government.”
If the Government implemented all the recommendations, all bars, pubs and clubs — including small bars — would face:
A BAN on drinking on footpaths or other outdoor areas from midnight.
NO free-drink specials or drinks such as promoting rapid or excessive such as shooters, doubles and laybacks could be served from midnight and all drinks must served in tempered or polycarbonate glasses.
LARGER venues only (those with a 200-plus capacity) would require at least one staff member to be a drinks marshal, a first-aid officer, metal detectors and CCTV from midnight.
The review stated there had been a “statistically significant” decline in alcohol-related offending and hospital presentations in the CBD.
This supports SA police figures that revealed there was a 12 per cent drop in late-night CBD alcohol-related offences between October 2013 to September 2014 compared to the previous year.
But it showed there had been some unintended consequences which included patron aggression and aggravation at being locked out and being left stranded alone outside venues.
“A clear majority of stakeholders expressed a high level of support for the Codes. These included representatives from the health sector, police, local government, universities focusing on alcohol research, social services groups and people who work or reside in the CBD,” the report stated.
“People who reported working at and/or going out to late night venues, and to a lesser extent licensees, showed a low level of support for the Late Night Code overall. Support was especially low for the lockout.”
In May, The Advertiser reported that Police Commissioner Gary Burns, who has since retired, had called for the lockout to be brought forward to 2am to stop young people “pre-loading” and further reduce alcohol fuelled violence.
Jordana Lekakis, 21, said she noticed there had been less fighting on the streets since the lockout rules were introduced. She had also encountered bad nights out with friends cashing in on drink promotions.
“One of my friends had a big pre-drinks and cheap drinks all night; and she passed out on the street and had to be taken away by the ambos,” Ms Lekakis said.
Her sister Tara Lekakis, 32, agreed free drink promotions encouraged an irresponsible drinking culture.
But said handing out on-the-spot expiations could be too harsh.
“Venues should be taking more responsibilities,” she said.
— with Josephine Lim