Queensland booze laws backfire, fuelling more drunkenness

New laws aimed at reducing ­alcohol-fuelled violence have led to people ­arriving substantially more drunk in nightclub precincts.

Cole Miller.

New laws aimed at reducing ­alcohol-fuelled violence in Queensland have led to people ­arriving substantially more drunk in nightclub precincts and have failed to reduce assaults.

Those are the findings of studies­ by researchers from three major universities who took blood-alcohol readings, interviewed patrons and examined crime statistics before and after the laws were introduced.

In July 2016, after attacks including­ the one-punch death of 18-year-old Cole Miller in Brisbane­’s Fortitude Valley, the state government cut back trading hours for alcohol sales from 5am to 3am in night-time entertainment districts. Venues outside the districts also had their hours reduced­ and “rapid-intoxication drinks” such as shots and shooters were banned after midnight.

Griffith University associate professor Grant Devilly said there had since been a marked increase in “preloading” — drinking before arrival in the districts.

“After the legislation, there’s a huge increase in how drunk they are,” Professor Devilly, the lead research­er on the three studies, told The Australian. “There’s also a ­decline in the number of people who hadn’t drunk anything. If you make something less available, you increase its intrinsic value. People are drinking more beforehand when they have ­access to it.”

People were arriving later due to increased preloading, and there was evidence blood-alcohol readings were higher when they left.

Crime statistics and interviews with patrons showed no decrease in violent assaults or fear of violence­, Professor Devilly said. More people were self-reporting that they had taken drugs. “People ­either were taking more drugs or were willing to admit to taking more drugs, both before coming and actually in the city,” he said.

Results of the studies are ­detailed in a paper, A Big Night Out Getting Bigger, published in the journal PLOS ONE today.

“Legislation that does not specifically adapt to the cultural shift of preloading and take local conditions into account will be unsuccessful in reducing alcohol consumption,” it says. “Such legislation is unlikely to meaningfully change assault rates.”

Laws should be revised to get people into entertainment districts­ earlier to reduce preloading and to encourage drinking in a controlled environment, the paper recommends. This could includ­e allowing advertisements for “happy hour” in venues which sell food, as well as “entertainment enticements”.

Alcohol pricing should be vis­ually prominent in pubs and clubs to reduce drinking, and breathalysers should be available to show people how affected they are.

A government spokesman said the findings would be considered “in conjunction with other inform­ation available to us”.