Lockout laws fail to curb Kings Cross violence before 3am, possible changes coming
EXCLUSIVE: Pub lockout laws have not slashed Kings Cross violence in the period before 3am, opening the way for possible changes to the controversial regime.
NSW
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PUB lockout laws have not slashed Kings Cross violence in the period before 3am, opening the way for possible changes to the controversial regime.
While the laws have been spectacularly successful at cutting assaults after 3am, The Daily Telegraph can reveal there has been no significant drop in violence between the 1.30am lockout time and the 3am closing time in the nightclub mecca.
The revelation has sparked the possibility the King Cross lockout time could be pushed back after the government review of the regime in August.
Bureau of Crime Statistics boss Don Weatherburn said the 1.30am lockout had reduced violence before 3am in Sydney’s central business district but had not had the same impact in the Cross.
“Both of them (lockouts and early closing) worked for the CBD, only one worked for Kings Cross,’’ he said.
“Kings Cross had a 94 per cent drop (in assaults) after 3am. The short story is Kings Cross got its principal benefit out of hours after 3am.’’
Police Association president Scott Weber last week said it would consider supporting a change to lockout times depending on “evidence” as well as considering calls for compulsory closure of bottle shops at 10pm to be changed.
The Australian Hotels Association is pushing for change, with bottle shop closing times the No. 1 priority, followed by lockout times.
One proposal is understood to involve lockout times moving forward, but for the government to have the capacity for a pub or nightclub to have its lockout times pushed to midnight or 12.30am if they registered as a problem venue.
The National Party is understood to be pushing strongly for over-the-counter sales at pubs in country areas to be allowed after 10pm.
“The Last Drinks Coalition, which is nurses, doctors and ambulance officers, die in a ditch on trading hours (closing times) but the rest of the arguments have to be evidence-based,” Mr Weber said.
“We’re quite happy to have those conversations (around bottle shop closing and when lockouts start but) it’s got to be on evidence. We’re willing to have a look.”
A change in the closing times in the CBD and Kings Cross is considered unlikely in the extreme as the evidence has all pointed to a large drop in assaults since the introduction of the laws in 2014.
Former High Court judge Ian Callinan’s review of the laws is due to report in August and was legislated to take place two years after former premier Barry O’Farrell moved the laws in 2014 in the wake of a series of one-punch killings and serious injuries.
A spokesman for Premier Mike Baird said: “The Premier will await the outcome of Ian Callinan’s review of the laws. The review is considering the relevant statistical data relating to alcohol-related violence and anti-social behaviour to inform its findings.”
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