Record number of Central Coast pubs and clubs adopt mulit-venue ban strategy
EXCLUSIVE: First look at graphic new video released as part of the ‘Banned from One, Banned from All’ campaign to end violence, drugs and sexual assaults in the coast’s pubs and clubs.
Central Coast
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A record number of pubs and clubs have delivered a blunt warning to patrons ahead of the summer “silly season” — muck up and you will be banned from going out.
Brisbane Water Liquor Accord will relaunch its highly successful multi-venue barring scheme this summer.
Under the rules, anyone found committing an act of violence will get an automatic ban from all venues for five years. And anyone under-18 caught inside or trying to get in a licensed venue will get an automatic ban of 12 months starting at their 18th birthday.
Anyone caught with drugs will be banned for a year.
More than 30 licensed premises have joined the campaign that will see people involved in anti-social behaviour banned for two years. When the plan started it had six or seven of the biggest venues, now almost every venue on the south side of the coast is included.
On Tuesday, the accord unveiled the first of three new videos, which will be rolled out at venues and on social media over six weeks starting in mid November.
It emphasises the enjoyment of going out but contains some graphic, violent scenes which would get patrons banned for up to five years for a first offence and up to 10 years at the discretion of individual venues.
Brisbane Water Liquor Accord chairman Zane Tredway said the “Barred from One, Barred from All” campaign had been changed to “Banned from One, Banned from All”.
Now in its seventh year, Mr Tredway said the multi-venue barring scheme had been very successful with no Brisbane Water Liquor Accord member on the Liquor & Gaming NSW’s “declared venues” list compared to “half a dozen” on the violent pubs list in 2012.
He said over the years there had been different “spikes” in the types of offences, which had guided the coast’s banning policy.
“There’s currently about 250 people on the banned list,” he said. “It’s usually the small minority who wreck it for everyone else and we’ve found repeat offenders don’t change. So it’s about banning them so everyone else can have a good time and protecting the safety of our patrons and importantly our staff.”
Mr Tredway said the campaign was having an effect through “strength in numbers”.
“(Banned) people might say they don’t care because they never want to go to Pulse Nightclub ever again but they might want to go to uncle Johnny’s 50th birthday lunch at Everglades (Country Club) or a work Christmas party,” he said.
In the same way, he said it was a major deterrent to underage people who face being banned until their 19th birthday and risked missing “that whole year of going out with their friends”.
Mr Tredway said unlike the courts, which require police to prove beyond reasonable doubt an offence had occurred, he said venues had the discretion to ban people based on CCTV or other evidence if it was likely a patron did the wrong thing.
The relaunch will also feature new drink coasters with the messages that violent, drugged or underage patrons would be “Banned”.
Posters, digital displays and other material outlining the banning scheme would be available at venues.
SOBERING CRASH STATISTICS
have backed Brisbane Water Liquor Accord’s toughest ever “idiot free” banning policy, which goes hand-in-glove with the government’s “Plan B” drink-driving campaign.
It comes as new figures revealed at the liquor accord’s annual general meeting on Tuesday show the Central Coast has one of the worst alcohol related cash rates.
In the five years to June 2018 7.4 per cent of crashes on the coast involved alcohol, which is nearly double the NSW average of 4.5 per cent and slightly above the Hunter region’s average of 6.4 per cent.
Males aged from 17-49 accounted for 87 per cent of alcohol related fatalities in the same period.
Central Coast Council is helping pubs and clubs promote the Plan B campaign with black T-shirts for staff and courtesy bus decals.
Brisbane Water Crime Manager Chief Inspector Steve Laksa said proactive “summer squads” comprising of “motivated officers” would be patrolling venues most weekends to help pubs and clubs enforce responsible service and target alcohol related crime.
He said one of the big issues were patrons reaching the point of intoxication and then being pushed out onto the street where “they become a risk to themselves or someone else”.