Last drinks for 1.30am lockout in move for 3am closing time

ACTING Premier Troy Grant says if the review into lockout laws suggests a move from 1.30am to a closing time of 3am he would support it.

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ACTING Premier Troy Grant says if the review into lockout laws suggests a move from 1.30am to a closing time of 3am he would support it.

Mr Grant said the evidence shows the time of last drinks is what matters in reducing violence and crime — not lockout times.

Mr Grant, in the top job while Premier Mike Baird spends a week with troubled youth in the Northern Territory, has also flagged a push by him as leader of the Nationals for an end to the 10pm closing time for the sale of takeaway alcohol.

NEWTOWN: Party central at 1.50am around the Marlborough Hotel. Picture: Gordon McComiskie

KINGS CROSS: All quiet on Bayswater Rd at 1.30am. Picture: Gordon McComiskie

Mr Grant says he will push for country pubs to be able to do takeaway over-the-counter alcohol sales after 10pm. He said November was “harvest time” for farm workers, who traditionally go to buy two or three takeaway beers when they leave work after 10pm.

Since former premier Barry O’Farrell’s 2014 lockout laws created a statewide closing time of 10pm for bottle shops, those workers have gone dry.

Former High Court judge Ian Callinan is preparing a statutory two year-review into Mr O’Farrell’s controversial lockout laws, which force pubs in the Sydney CBD to lock out patrons from 1.30am, with a requirement they must close their doors at 3am.

The Daily Telegraph revealed in May the Police Association was open to the idea of moving the 1.30am lockout time if the evidence supported such a move.

Acting Premier Troy Grant says if the review into lockout laws suggests a move from 1.30am to a closing time of 3am he would support it.

Evidence suggests that on weekdays the reduction in crime has not been significant between 1.30am and 3am since the laws came into place, but there has been a big reduction after 3am.

“Every bit of evidence I’ve seen or heard about, even in my previous experience with liquor accord arrangements, it’s not the lockouts that have the greatest impact, it’s the last drinks,” Mr Grant said.

“If Callinan recommends pushing the lockouts back, I think it’s something we absolutely should do. If you’re trying to control the quantity of alcohol people consume ... last drinks is most effective.”

Mr Grant said it was “hard to see where the justification was for the 10pm bottle shop closures in the first place.”

He said he did not believe sales after 10pm were responsible for domestic violence.