NSW Lockout Laws, Policies in the Media

It’s no secret that NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell’s lockout laws have been highly unpopular among young people, business owners affected as well as those in the late night music culture. They were introduced in Feburary 24^th and there has already been talk of more constricting alcohol laws. These lockout laws have affected certain venues within Sydney’s CBD, requiring them to reject entrance to customers from 1:30am and cease any alcohol after 3:00am. Despite the fact that these laws have been a result of previous cases of alcohol-fueled violence and an attempt to reduce such reoccurrences, there have been debates that these laws will put people in more harms way.

Some points that have been raised is that fact that these measures may actually become the reason people under the influence will behave violently. New reasons for frustrations will only aggravate issues with violence within the city as people become more irritated and angry. These people will also be out on the street, rather than within a safe, controlled environment of a venue that have hired security. This is even more dangerous when considering the fact that almost all scenarios involving violence occurred on the streets. Issues may also rise from the 3am limit on alcohol sales. These include the pre-drinking beforehand in order to be drunk for longer, or even an increase in drug use as well.

Not only that, the alcohol-fuelled incidents that did occur & have resulted in these lock-out laws occurred much earlier in the night, around 9:10pm (Daniel Christie) and 10pm (Thomas Kelly). This would mean that even if the laws which are supposed to be considered a solution, were in place at the time, the incidents would still have occurred. It was through these two incidents however, politics and the media worked along side each other in order to introduce these new laws. Almost as if the media created a spectacle leading to the public’s demand for something to be done.

It has also been argued that these laws do not consider the diversity of Sydney’s nightlife culture and that Barry O’Farrell’s laws are broad in their ‘one-size-fits-all’ nature. They do not tailored to the actual problem of alcohol induced violence and nor are they a solution. They also fail to educate and result in positive change on Sydney’s social change and have now proven to not make a good difference.

In fact, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR), alcohol related, non-domestic assaults have been averaging a decline of 1.5% for the last 10 years. After the introduction of the new laws however, there was nearly double the number of assaults, in Kings Cross, outside licensed premises. In the Sydney Council area as whole, there was also a 30% increase in attacks outside licensed premises. Sydney had always been considered stable and therefore this reform may be considered an unjustified response from the NSW state government. 

Furthermore, the lockout laws have also resulted in a spike in pedestrians being involved in car accidents in and around lockout areas. This is due to the fact that pedestrians have been rushing across roads to make it into licensed venues in the city before the 1.30 lockout, or as they scatter out at 3am. Statistics show that during the busy Christmas period from Dec-Feb, 8 incidents occurred. However from the introduction of lock-out to April this year, 11 incidents occurred. The chairman for the Pedestrian Council of Australia, Harold Scruby, commented stating it was a concerning comparison as the Christmas-New Year period was usually the busiest for pedestrians.

Despite that alcohol-fueled violence is a problem within Sydney, just like it may be any where else in the world, these policy matters are extreme and do little to solve the situation. It was also clear that the media was used in order to allow such a response from previous cases to generate enough concern among the public, almost created a moral panic. This is despite the fact that Sydney was on a stable route and slowly improving however the public were lead to believe there had been a great increase in alcohol-fueled crime.

References:

Bashan, Y. 2014, ‘New Year's Eve coward punch victim Daniel Christie has his life support turned off’, News.com.au, 11 January, viewed 3 June 2014, <http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/new-years-eve-coward-punch-victim-daniel-christie-has-his-life-support-turned-off/story-fnj3rq0y-1226799601945>.

McClellan B., Van Den Broeke L. 2014, ‘Lockout laws: crime stats show violence spreading outside nightclubs’, Daily Telegraph, 2 June, viewed 3 June, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lockout-laws-crime-stats-show-violence-spreading-outside-nightclubs/story-fni0cx12-1226939939659>.

Moskovitch G. 2014, ‘Lockout laws spell more accidents in Sydney CBD’, Music Feeds, 2 June, viewed 3 June 2014, <http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/lockout-laws-spell-more-accidents-in-sydney-cbd/>.

Nicholls S. 2014, ‘Alcohol: Barry O'Farrell announces Sydney lockouts from February 24’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 February, viewed 3 June 2014, <http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/alcohol-barry-ofarrell-announces-sydney-lockouts-from-february-24-20140205-320dm.html>.

Sing J., Lewis A., Shimada H., 2014, ‘Why the Sydney lockout laws will do more harm than good’, Faster Louder, 21 January, viewed 3 June 2014, <http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/opinions/38182/Why-the-Sydney-lockout-laws-will-do-more-harm-than-good>.