Queensland lockout laws: LNP member fears suburban unrest
AN OPPOSITION MP has foreshadowed what he fears is a greater risk to the public under the Government’s controversial lockout laws.
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LNP state member Trevor Watts has warned that people “will get away with murder” after the proposed lock out laws take place.
Speaking in State Parliament last night, Mr Watts said that through his 25 years’ experience working in and around pubs, he believed young party-goers would take to suburban parties.
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“There is a tipping point, when you close the venues too early those people will drink at other places because they wont bother going to where the entertainment is, it will all become too hard for them,” he said.
“They’re going to be partying next door to your house, they’re going to be making noise, they’re going to be having sex in the garden.”
The Member for Toowoomba North said anyone who believed young people would simply go home to bed after lockout was “living in la la land”.
“The fear I have you will put the young people of Queensland in real serious danger where people quite literally can get away with murder,” he said.
“We know that if someone gets assaulted in a safe night precinct that there are police, there are cameras, there is ambulance, there is support.
Mr Watts slammed the Government, saying that even if someone was to be assaulted in the suburbs it would not factor in the statistics because it was out of the public eye.
“Can you imagine that is going to happen to the young girl that gets sexually assaulted in the private party with hundreds of people that arrived from a Facebook invite?” he said.
“The good news for you is it probably wont make it into your statistics, because no one will report it.
“You can sit there with a clean conscience and say isn’t it fantastic, we’ve cured the world, but that won’t help her.
“Lets get education in place, because you’re not going to change the culture by closing the door.”
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