Our night-life isn’t dead — but we need a do over

Both ends of the lockout laws debate need to reign it in. Ultimately, it’s up to governments to strike a balance between liberty and responsibility and find a way to allow residents to enjoy a night out safely.

When you see Cronulla player Andrew Fifita wearing an armband emblazoned with initials that seems to support someone convicted of a one-punch attack, it’s clear public debate has gone off piste.

While few would publicly admit to backing the stance of the Sharks prop, he’s one of many divergent positions that have come to light in the wake of Sydney’s lockout laws.

The criminal that Fifita appears to support, Kieran Loveridge, was responsible for the death of Thomas Kelly, who was just 18. His life was felled by a punch while he was doing nothing more than enjoying a night out in 2012.

It was the death of Kelly that led to the now infamous “lockout laws” — but the public debate about this legislation has splintered beyond reason. Protest groups have bemoaned the death of Sydney’s night-life, saying that the city has become an international embarrassment. Workers on the frontline of dealing with the human attrition caused by alcohol fuelled violence — especially those at nearby hospital St. Vincent’s — have declared the laws a success.

But most tragically, Thomas Kelly’s brother Stuart, who started The Thomas Kelly Foundation and campaigned for lockout laws, was bullied on social media over the legislation before taking his own life earlier this year.

Sharks player Andrew Fifita wears an armband allegedly supporting Kieran Loveridge. (Pic: Mark Kolbe/Getty)

And then there’s the small matter of Fifita. How has it come to this?

The Cross, with its attendant red light district, had always veered on the seedy side. Anyone who visited Kings Cross on a Friday and Saturday night, the scene of the senseless crime that ended Kelly’s young life, knows it was an unpleasant experience. It felt genuinely threatening, dominated as it was by rowdy, drunk crowds, with more than just a whiff of violence in the air.

But by 2012, when Kelly was killed, Kings Cross wasn’t just seedy. It was out of control. Something needed to be done. Repeat offenders — venues that regularly churned out wasted and potentially violent patrons — should have been threatened with greater penalties than currently existed. They needed to be shut down for breaches.

Sadly, however, the broad brush of the laws had the same effect, with the demise of some of the area’s longstanding watering holes; despite none of the establishments listed on the NSW Government’s annual “violent venues” list. Hospitality can be a tough game at the best of times, and the winding up of any business isn’t cause for celebration.

What’s more, the forced closure of bottle shops across the state at 10pm is ridiculous. But there’s emerged a debate about the laws that is more extreme and hyperbolic than is helpful.

I’ve never heard anyone I know living in London, New York or elsewhere declare Sydney’s night life an embarrassment. What’s more, there are plenty of London boroughs where it’s almost impossible to get a drink after midnight; I doubt many residents of the Big Apple have lost any sleep over what’s happening in the Harbour City.

Kings Cross at 1:30am. Before the lockout laws, this was a very different scene. (Pic: Gordon McComiskie)

And there are lots of smaller bars — some outside of the lockout zone, some within — that are thriving.

Now, a NSW Supreme Court ruling has decided strip clubs and live music venues are exempt from the lockout. The controversial legislation has been effectively challenged, the debate is in disarray; it’s clear we need to start over.

Let’s hope the impeding Callinan Review — an independent assessment of the lockout laws — due later this month, offers some clarity in the wake of this mess. Ultimately, the state needs to find a way to allow its residents to enjoy a night out safely. It’s up to any democratic government to strike a balance between liberty and responsibility.

For the moment, at least, it seems that reports of the death of Sydney’s night-life have been greatly exaggerated.

There’s life in the old girl yet.

Twitter: @vhannaford