Adults have the right to choose when and how to drink, liquor lobby group president says

THE 10pm bottle shop curfew has been slammed by the industry’s leading lobby group, saying adults should be able to choose when to drink.

Generic photos of liquor bottle shop, alcohol, brown paper bag, wine, beer, spirit, spirits, grog shop.

THE bottle shop curfew that restricts the sale of liquor after 10pm denies adults the “basic human right” of choosing when and how they drink, the president of the industry’s leading lobby group says.

David Reberger, president of Liquor Stores Association NSW (LSA NSW), is a vocal critic of the strict measure and says adults should be entrusted to make decisions about their own lives.

He told news.com.au there were any number of reasons why responsible adults would choose to buy alcohol after 10pm — from a late worker grabbing a bottle to enjoy with dinner, to concert patrons or event-goers who wanted to “relive the occasion for a little longer over a nightcap”.

“It could be a tourist just disembarked from a country that enjoys significantly more freedoms than ours. Or it just might be a group of friends that have had a wonderful evening and have picked up some takeaway pizza to enjoy alongside one last drink at home,” Mr Reberger said.

“Regardless of the reason, these adults who should be entrusted to make decisions about their own lives and when and how they choose to drink are presently denied a basic human right afforded to every other citizen of Australia outside of NSW.

“We also think our customers are mature adults who weren’t doing anything wrong by being able to make a purchase after 10pm.”

His criticism comes as NSW Premier Mike Baird is slammed for killing Sydney’s night-life, sparked by a blistering open letter by Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie.

Top Australian DJ Alison Wonderland is the latest to unload on Mr Baird, posting a rant on Twitter today that said Sydney was a “laughing stock internationally”.

The bottle shop curfew and lockout laws were intended to address alcohol-fuelled violence in Sydney and across NSW.

Mr Reberger said data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research indicated that the forced closure of bottle shops had not moved the trend line of alcohol-related domestic violence “one iota” from its previous downward trajectory.

“Let me say that again. The statewide forced 10pm close did not change the rate of alcohol-related domestic violence from its previous downward trend line,” Mr Reberger said.

He also said the responsibility of selling liquor safely made jobs in bottle shops some of the toughest in retail, but added that “for the vast majority of our customers it means bringing joy into their lives”.

The LSA NSW has recommended, as part of a review into the lockout laws, that liquor stores across the state be entitled to extend trading past 10pm at least 12 times a year.

It also wants liquor stores to be able to apply to trade after 10pm if there was a demonstrated need for more than 12 extended trading occasions per year.

“These are reasonable and common sense recommendations that get the balance right between respecting individual freedoms while protecting the larger community from harm,” Mr Reberger said.

But the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is pushing to keep the 10pm bottle shop closure, saying it had contributed to a nine per cent drop in assaults across the state, as well as fewer assaults in the CBD.

The college’s trauma committee chairman Dr John Crozier told news.com.au on Friday a perceived lack of personal freedoms was a small price to pay for less violence in homes and on the street.

A very quiet Kings Cross after the lockout laws were brought in. Picture: Richard Dobson

“The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research evidence of a nine per cent reduction in non-domestic interpersonal assault requiring a police response is absolutely unparalleled and that’s against the background of a pleased and generalised downward trend in assault from 2008, where a progressive range of measures have resulted in that downward trend,” Dr Crozier said.

“This is the first whole-of-state measure where there’s been such a dramatic whole-of-state reduction in assault documented.

“Some compromise of personal freedoms for such a significant win in community gain ... is a reasonable trade off.

“The quest for profits can’t override the greater principle of safety to the community.”

Mr Baird was widely panned yesterday after he took to Facebook to brand accusations the lockout laws had turned Sydney into a ghost town “hysterical”.

The premier said the laws had “neither shut down the city, nor killed its night-life”.

“Let’s start with a statistic about Sydney’s night-life that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per cent in the CBD since we introduced the ‘lockout laws’, and they’re down by over 60 per cent in Kings Cross,” Mr Baird wrote.

“But … didn’t we achieve this by shutting down the whole city and killing its night-life?

“Well, one last statistic: the number of small bars in Sydney has more than doubled in the same time period.

“There has been a growing hysteria this week about night-life in Sydney.

“The main complaints seem to be that you can’t drink till dawn any more and you can’t impulse-buy a bottle of white after 10pm.

“I understand that this presents an inconvenience. Some say this makes us an international embarrassment. Except, assaults are down by 42.2 per cent.

“And there is nothing embarrassing about that.”

However many replies to the Facebook post accused the premier of using rubbery figures and generally being out of touch.