NSW Premier Mike Baird has set his sights on settling the bitter political controversy over pub lockout laws, and many of his backbench critics are bracing themselves for another backflip.
In the past week, Baird has postponed the greyhound racing ban, backtracked on shark nets on the North Coast and improved financial compensation to property owners facing compulsory purchase along the route of Sydney’s WestConnex motorway.
As one of his advisers told Crikey: “The Premier is clearing the decks.”
Now Baird has to decide whether to accept the advice of former High Court judge Ian Callinan QC, who recommended a very modest relaxation of the current lockout legislation, or to reintroduce opening hours as they previously existed.
The original lockout laws were introduced by former premier Barry O’Farrell two and a half year ago, in the midst of a furious media campaign led by News Corp and commercial radio to stamp out drunken “sucker punch” street violence. O’Farrell introduced a “quick fix” to silence his media critics and the professional agitators in the NSW Police Association, but his harsh lockout laws were never intended to be permanent or to shut down the city’s night life.
[Greyhound ban backflip: since when did Alan Jones become a NSW crossbencher?]
Baird inherited the lockout mess when he became premier in April 2014 and became alarmed by the unintended consequences of the across-the-board shutdown: his vision of Sydney as the next “global city” was fading into after-dark gloom.
He responded by appointing Callinan, a Liberal Party favourite, to conduct a seven-month review of the economic and social impact of the legislation’s 1.30am lockout and the 3am cessation of liquor sales.
To stop Baird from backtracking, the Coalition’s right-wing faction claims that a well-publicised poll gives them a 70% approval rating for maintaining tight restrictions on pub, club and off-licence hours, while opponents say that the poll is flawed and its findings suspect.
Tyson Koh, convener of the Keep Sydney Open movement, challenged the 70% majority to stage a street protest in Sydney to show the true size of their public support. It wasn’t taken up.
However, a rally by Keep Sydney Open on October 9 attracted thousands of supporters as well as the backing of rock legend Jimmy Barnes, actor Sam Neill and Jezabels’ lead singer Hayley Mary.
Barnes said: “I made a career playing in live venues in Sydney. I learnt my craft playing in those venues.
“The lockout laws aren’t working. We’ve got to help keep music alive and keep Sydney alive. Let’s find a better way to do it.”
Award-winning actor Sam Neill said that Baird’s policies had “sucked the life out of Sydney” and turned the city into “a pointless place”.
“I’m grumpy,” he said, “because Sydney used to be such a vibrant and exciting place in the late ’70s and early ’80s.”
In the past two days, cabinet ministers have faced intense lobbying from both sides of the argument, with some doctors, ambulance personnel and police pointing to a drop in attendances at hospital emergency rooms and the other side pointing to the closure of many city nightspots with the loss of hundreds of part-time and full-time jobs.
[Cui bono? The curious case of the grim industry that thrives on the lockout laws]
Koh has suggested a compromise between maintaining the city’s vibrancy on one hand and ensuring street safety on the other.
“It is important to get the balance right,” he said. “Melbourne has a late night culture that’s the envy of the world and that’s what we want to strive for.”
He said Callinan’s call for a trial extension of lockout laws by 30 minutes was “not enough” and recommended investment in 24/7 public transport to be introduced alongside a more relaxed approach to city licensing hours.
Deputy Premier and Justice Minister Troy Grant this week imposed life bans on two former operators of the Dreamgirls strip club in Kings Cross, using the Liquor Act.
They had been convicted in court of operating a clandestine illegal bar and turning a blind eye to the sale and use of illegal drugs.
The tough decision by Grant, the NSW Nationals leader and a former police inspector is an indication of the approach the cabinet may take to deal with publicans and bar owners who continue to serve drunken patrons and sell alcohol after legal hours.
MPs from all sides of politics are increasingly frustrated by police reluctance to deal with law-breaking publicans and bar owners. The liquor industry remains a significant source of graft, with police benefiting from free booze for Christmas parties as well as other station-based, and also private, celebrations.
As one former minister told Crikey: “We wouldn’t have the level of street violence or drunkenness at city night spots if the cops did their job. They have plenty of laws at their disposal, so why don’t they use them?”
Alex – you have made it clear in a number of articles you have written recently that you are no fan of the lockout laws, and obviously this is colouring your reporting. This is not a left or right issue. And quoting heavily from Tyson Koh, who has questioned the motives and methods of frontline emergency doctors and the independent BOSCAR, does your analysis no favours. Tyson’s ‘balanced approach’ would see a full return to the drunken chaos that was the reality of inner-city Sydney nightlife over the last 15 years. Soft approaches such as ‘more transport’, ‘more CCTV’, ‘more lighting’ and ‘education programs’ have been shown time and again to be completely ineffective. The only measures that countless local and international studies have found that actually work — and work extremely well — is reducing alcohol service hours and venue density. But of course the anti-lockout groups don’t want that because they want to return to the way things were — a totally out of control nightlife where anything goes and there is free license for those with a vested interest to make lots and lots of money.
What this article failed to mention was the massive reductions in violence and antisocial behaviour that have been achieved, to the extent that the head of BOCSAR said he had never seen anything like it. At the same time the city is still humming along, and claims to the contrary are severely exaggerated for obvious reasons. I recommend to anyone interested — read the Callinan report, which in over 150 pages cuts through the nonsense and provides the true picture of the effectiveness and success of these laws.
I think it’s awful that, when Sam Neill swans in from his NZ vineyard to visit his house in Sydney, he isn’t reminded of the late 70’s and early 80’s. This horror must end!
Barnesy has killed too many brain cells here. THe fact that the beer barn boss Justin Hemmes wants a change is a good reason to say no loudly. The music went from most venues to make way for pokies. What has gone missing is not nightlife. It is a modern day version of the six o’clock swill that lasts till 4am. This is not about music it is about greed. The places Cold Chisel played did not resulot in deaths willy nilly on the public street. Perhaps Mr Hemmes and his ilk could spend less time bribing political parties and more time paying for the consequences.
I am very deeply disappointed by the most uncharacteristic (of Crikey) “reporting” in this article when compared to the normally unbiased reporting that I subscribe to Crikey for. it is extremely biased and loaded. yes I have vested interest as a doctor and president of ASMOF. But the words around the poll (“right-wing faction claims that a well-publicised poll gives them a 70% approval rating for maintaining…”) is grossly misrepresenting the situation – it was a poll done by an independent group of many hundreds of voters – we the doctors had no role with it. it is fact, and your reporter is grossly distorting that it is a fact.
IMHO, the author has displayed his personal biases. Our experience of dealing with dead and brain-damaged persons, and their families, and the author’s biased reporting, suggests to me that crikey should send the reporter to work in an ED for a few weeks and see what he thinks then. Or perhaps have his son or daughter suffer such a fate, and see what he thinks then. Jesus wept.
and the statement about Tyson Koh and his statement is a gross distortion of the political reality – getting the population to attend such a rally who support the lockouts is a nonsense.
and where are the quotes from me or the Nurses or the paramedics or the police or a patient’s family? Nowhere. Only Koh is quoted. Has crikey or Mr Mitchell been paid by the alcohol industry to write this article in such a biased way? I am outraged.
Crikey should either control this most biased “reporter” as being inconsistent with its charter of honesty or sack him.
Tony Sara