Link between extended bottle shop hours and domestic violence, report finds

A significant jump in NSW’s domestic violence rates has been linked to a rule change for alcohol vendors almost six years ago.

A “statistically significant” jump in NSW’s domestic violence rates has been linked to a boozy rule change almost six years ago.

Extended opening hours for bottle shops and alcohol home delivery services has led to a jump in DV rates, according to a new report from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

The report found domestic assault had increased 0.4 per cent per month overall since December 2016, a total rise of 15.2 per cent or 1,120 extra DV assault incidents over three years.

(Stock image) Rising domestic violence rates have been linked to extended opening hours for takeaway alcohol shops and booze delivery services.

It comes after the NSW government reversed a ban on alcohol sales after 10pm the same month DV rates began to rise.

The ban, which was implemented amid the controversial Sydney CBD lockout laws of 2014, was scrapped to allow alcohol vendors and delivery services to operate for an extra hour.

They are now allowed to trade until 11pm.

The BOCSAR report, focused on the impact the changed laws had on DV rates, found the number of assaults was “more pronounced” from 10pm onwards.

“The increase in DV assaults was more pronounced after 10pm, lending support to the proposition that the rise was due to the policy change,” researchers wrote in a statement.

(Stock image) Domestic violence rates have jumped by 0.4 per cent every month since December 2016.

“We estimate that in the 38-month period after the policy commenced, the rate of DV assaults occurring between 10pm and 2am increased by 0.5% per month.”

There was no recorded change in non-domestic assault following the policy change.

BOCSAR Executive Director Jackie Fitzgerald said the research highlighted a “noticeable” link between alcohol consumption and domestic violence.

Jackie Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

“This research is really interesting as there is a big body of evidence that alcohol consumption at licensed premises is closely linked with violence, but not so much for takeaway alcohol sales,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

“It is a key priority to reduce domestic violence … the question is now for policy makers about the balance between civil liberties of people who purchase and consume alcohol whenever they like versus the harm associated with that consumption.”

CEO of domestic, family and sexual violence organisation Full Stop Australia Hayley Foster said the report’s findings were “very concerning”.

Ms Foster condemned potential further rule relaxations- including talk of the beer tax being cut in this year’s upcoming federal budget- calling on state and federal officials to recognise how access to alcohol “exacerbates” domestic violence.

“There is a potential decision going on at the moment for the federal government to cut alcohol taxes, we’ve never had such high domestic violence and sexual assault rates and yet we’ll be potentially looking to increase the availability of alcohol,” Ms Foster said.

“It‘s definitely something to be concerned about … up to half of all people who kill their partners are intoxicated at the time, we can’t deny this link and we really need to pay attention when we see this data presented to us around the impact of alcohol on the safety of people.”

“Alcohol is not the main cause of domestic violence but it certainly can and does exacerbate risk and increase prevalence … elected officials and the community need to make an assessment of risk when making these kinds of decisions.”