Crackdown on karaoke in late trading rules

Karaoke and BYO venues have been gathered into Council’s net as it tightens its controls over late-night entertainment in Sydney.

Such venues will be “identified” and classified as Category A (high impact) premises, irrespective of capacity.

“The purpose of this amendment is to address ongoing concerns about the impact of karaoke venues on residential amenity and safety,” said the Council report.

The measures are included in revisions to the City’s Late Night trading Development Control Plan (DCP), which councillors supported unanimously on Monday night with no alterations.

Council has also awarded itself more power to shut down late-trading venues by emphasising “Reviewable Conditions”, an extra layer of control above its existing Trial Period powers.

All new late-night approvals are already subject to Trial Periods whereby Council approves “base” trading hours to a venue, commonly finishing at midnight. To retain their late-night status, venues must re-apply at the end of every trial period and demonstrate good management and compliance.

But Reviewable Conditions enable Council to withdraw or vary permissions at any time within the Trial Period, with 14 days’ notice.

This is presented as being good for venues by providing “certainty”.

Paperwork requirements for venues are being increased. Floor plans must now include details such as queue areas within the venue and applications must report the number of “RSA Marshalls” employed to police the amount patrons drink, enforcing the subjective Responsible Service of Alcohol rules.

These details will allow Council to catch out any venue which, for instance, moves tables out of a dining area to increase the dance floor area after the kitchen has closed.

Venues must also now reapply for extended trading 30 days before a trial period ends rather than the current 30 days after.

Another new clause in the DCP specifically refers to “relevant data and research relating to the impacts of late night trading premises” when considering late trading hours.

This is significant as Council has commissioned new research intended, according to Council’s CEO Monica Barone, to “keep the cumulative impact argument progressed”.

Cumulative impact theory is a key plank in the anti-alcohol lobby, now being used in nearly every objection to late-night trading applications. The theory is that clustering of such venues creates a disproportionate increase in crime.

Council’s previous research attempting to validate this effect for Kings Cross and Oxford Street failed as it ignored consistently falling street crime during a period when many new venues opened. Nor did it establish strong support among residents for reducing late-night trading, with only 16 percent of residents wanting “fewer pubs and clubs”.

Nevertheless the DCP ratifies the theory, saying late trading is acceptable only “where it will not contribute to the clustering of high impact premises such as hotels”.

The DCP addresses the problem of noisy patrons leaving venues late at night by requiring that venues “wind down” the volume of music and turn up the lights prior to closing, and educate patrons about being considerate to neighbours.

by Michael Gormly