Mike Baird smashed over lockout laws rant

THE NSW Premier is being smashed on social media over contentious laws the Queensland Government also wants to introduce.

NSW Premier Mike Baird has returned fire on Sydney’s lockout laws, branding claims they have turned the city into a ghost town “hysterical”.

In a scathingly non-apologetic Facebook post, Mr Baird said the lockout laws had “neither shut down the city, nor killed its night-life”.

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“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.

Mike Baird has responded to complaints about the death of Sydney’s night-life. This is what the formerly bustling Kings Cross looks like today.

“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.”

Let’s start with a statistic about Sydney’s nightlife that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per...

Posted by Mike Baird on Monday, 8 February 2016

The original author of the 8000-word rant that prompted the debate, businessman Matt Barrie, was quick to return fire, replying via Facebook with a few statistics of his own.

“I am glad you finally found your social media logins,” he replied to Mr Baird.

“Here’s a statistic for you … 927,000 reads of my article, and of 950 comments, 84.9 per cent agreed that you have destroyed the city’s reputation, small business, jobs or Sydney’s social and cultural fabric, 8.75 were neutral and only 6.4 per cent agreed with you.”

Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross, is struggling to keep its nightclub strip alive. The Premier says Sydney has more small bars than ever.

That sentiment quickly became obvious as replies to Mr Baird’s Facebook post approached 1000, with users accusing the Premier of everything from using rubbery figures, being selective with his statistics, out of touch, and hypocritical in the way lockout laws were applied — especially with casinos exempt.

“I like you a lot as a premier, but you’re just flat out NOT telling the truth. Of course confining people to their homes reduces violence. But violence per capita is up, it’s increased according to BOSCAR in surrounding suburbs and violence at the Star Casino is also up. You’re also ignoring the fact that violence was trending downwards anyway,” said one Sydney businessman.

“Obviously the violence statistic is going to go down if there are far less people out and about in those areas,” said another user.

“You have destroyed our city. Businesses cannot survive because there is literally no one on the streets after midnight. International tourist are being refused entry into bars because they are accused of being intoxicated. Bars are constantly being harassed by the police to comply with unreasonable service of alcohol laws,” said another.

“When you can explain to me why the casinos (existing and approved) are exempt I might be a touch more enthusiastic. Agree with it in principle but could use some tweaking. I find the casino exemption hypocritical beyond belief,” another respondent offered.

“If the lockout laws are working extend them to the Star (casino),” another posted.

Mr Baird said lockout laws from the outset had been about “facing a serious problem” and happily wore accusations they were about “moralising”.

“Violence had spiralled out of control, people were literally being punched to death in the city, and there were city streets too dangerous to stroll down on a Friday night,” he said.

“The community was rightly outraged. I met face to face with the families of victims. You don’t need to see that sort of pain too often to realise there is a problem that needs fixing.

“Now, some have suggested these laws are really about moralising. They are right.

The NSW lockout laws have been widely praised by some, but slammed by others.

“These laws are about the moral obligation we have to protect innocent people from drunken violence.

“Now some, who wish to define our city by one street on Kings Cross, make the hysterical claim that Sydney is dead.

“They couldn’t be more wrong. This is the greatest city in the world and it is now safer and more vibrant than ever. Long Live Sydney.”

Mr Baird’s post said there were less emergency room presentations on weekends, trains were safer and “residents across the city, particularly women, are telling us they feel safer walking home at night”.

While conceding some of that evidence was anecdotal, he added that “lots of hard data is starting to come in. And it is all telling a similar story”.

“Over the coming months a detailed review into the effects of the lockout laws will be undertaken. I await this work with interest. But it is going to take a lot for me to change my mind on a policy that is so clearly improving this city,” he said.

That Mr Baird is listening to “anecdotal evidence” is good news for lockout law opponents Keep Sydney Open, whose spokesman Tyson Koh said had gathered anecdotal evidence of its own — which shows the success of the laws isn’t quite what it appears.

A petition run by Keep Sydney Open to soften the laws, established when they were introduced in 2014, has grown by 15,000 since last week to more than 36,000 signatories in the wake of Matt Barrie’s comments.

Mr Koh said the crime figures referenced by Mr Baird paid no heed to the reduction of foot traffic in Kings Cross since the laws took effect, and called for measures including an increased police presence. He also said it was important to “put the responsibility on individuals rather than the venues themselves as a more realistic solution to the problem”.

“The picture being painted about the success of the lockout laws isn’t quite as black and white as supporters would have it appear,” he said.

“While assaults may be down 40 per cent in Kings Cross, there has been an even bigger decline in total foot traffic — which means proportionally the area may be worse than ever,” he said.

Mr Koh said the lockout laws had been a failure, with effects reaching far beyond the crime figures and the estimated 20 licenced premises which have gone to the wall.

“Our investigations of the effects put at 600 the direct number of jobs lost, and at losses reaching into the tens of millions financially,” he said.

“While nobody disagrees that the city’s streets should be safer, we disagree that this is the way to do this.”

Keep Sydney Open argues that a higher police presence on the street would put the onus back on the individuals — rather than on businesses “who are now struggling to survive”.

“We want smarter solutions than a lockout,” Mr Koh said.

“We want an approach to preventing assaults which examines transport, CCTV, tougher sentencing, density and diversity of licensed premises, venue management, culture as a placating tool and the tendency towards violence among certain groups of individuals.”