More Alcohol-Free zones for Sydney

More Sydney streets are set to become Alcohol-Free Zones (AFZs) as the City considers 73 proposals from police and residents.

Currently there are 50 AFZs across the city, most of which will expire in July and are being reconsidered along with 23 new proposals.

Eight of the new proposals are in the City Central Police Command, five in Leichhardt Command, three in Newtown Command, five in Redfern Command and two in The Rocks Command.

Council decided on Monday [30 March] to put the proposals on public exhibition for 40 days with comment sought from stakeholders including the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, licensed venues, residents and community groups.

Police support the zones because it allows them to confiscate alcohol from street drinkers and pour it into the gutter. Police say this worked well during recent New Years Eve celebrations.

Human rights advocates point out that homeless people will typically be barred from pubs, don’t have a home and therefore have nowhere else to drink and socialise. Before running for Lord Mayor, Clover Moore MP advocated managed ‘wet centres’ to resolve this dilemma.

Cr Shayne Mallard has a different take; “I think AFZs need to be a bit more sophisticated. I would support zones that applied at times when serious anti-social activities occur. For example we could make all the City, Oxford street and Kings Cross alcohol-free between 10pm to 6am Thursday to Sunday.

“Surely that better targets the problems of bottle shop sales and street drinking that spills into residential areas, without the usual stomping all over everyone’s rights and enjoyment,” he said.

Meanwhile public consultation has closed on the state government’s proposed star-rating of licensed venues which will attempt to rank venues according to their ‘safeness’. The idea is that ‘good’ venues will be rated higher and therefore be rewarded by attracting more custom than ‘bad’ venues.

Minister for Gaming and Racing Kevin Greene admits this will not be an “ultimate fix” for alcohol-related violence but says the scheme will help turn the tide.

“There are schemes everywhere to rate hotel rooms, restaurants, music, film, or the energy efficiency of electrical appliances and they all offer a starting point for the development of a rating system for licensed venues,” he said.

Submissions will be considered by a working party comprising nominees of the Australian Hotels Association, Clubs NSW, the Liquor Stores Association, the Department of the Arts, Sport and Recreation and consumers. A discussion paper can be found at www.dasr.nsw.gov.au.