Pub lockouts ‘unfair and unworkable’

BY MICHAEL GORMLY

The 2am lockout imposed on 50 pubs and venues labelled ‘Sydney’s most violent’ is both unfair and unworkable, say many of those affected.

Several hoteliers mounted a legal challenge to test this claim but the NSW government rammed through legislation which elevated the regulations into law and gazumped the challenge.

A last-minute amendment from upper house Greens, supported by government MPs, imposed a 12-month trial period on the new measures.

The pubs claim data about on-premises assaults, used to decide which places would have the lockout conditions imposed, is seriously flawed.

‘They had us down for 23 incidents over a period where our diaries showed only six,’ said Jason Gavin, manager of the Vegas Hotel in Kings Cross.

‘The police are including incidents that have nothing to do with us.’

He quoted one incident in which one of their bouncers saw a girl being assaulted in the lane behind the pub, rescued her, brought her inside and called the police.

‘That seems to have been listed as an on-premises assault, and we know of at least two others that were similar.’

The data were compiled by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

Its director, Don Weatherburn, clarified questions about the data: ‘The Bureau compiled its ranking from assaults recorded by attending police as having occurred on licensed premises. The ranking was not based on statements made to police by suspected offenders about where they had their last drink.

‘It does depend to a large extent on the accuracy with which police record the original event. It’s not true, however, that we simply take the data ‘as is’. We have computer programs that search for anomalies in crime recording but, like the Tax Office, we cannot be 100 per cent sure that everyone tells it like it is.’

Kings Cross Police have not responded to questions about their reporting procedure. But the lockouts were already causing some of the affected pubs to close early on weeknights, acting superintendent Peter Brooks said at a Police Community meeting in Potts Point last Thursday.

The targeted pubs are also now required to cease serving alcohol for ten minutes every hour after midnight, even for those who had been queuing at the bar.

This will cause more problems than it solves, says Mr Gavin: ‘People will all leave the bar at the same time, go to the toilet at the same time and return at the same time.’ He plans to serve food and soft drinks during the dry time.

He claims The Vegas is not a violent pub and already exceeds its Responsible Service requirements, imposing limited ordering and extra-stringent age checks. The hotel is a member of the local Liquor Accord which contributes to a free bus to the city to ease the late-night transport shortage on weekends.

‘There are not enough police to address the issues on the street at most times and especially during busier periods,’ Mr Gavin said.

‘The streets are where the issues are and they need to be a more controlled environment. Why empty people from a controlled, regulated environment like a hotel to an uncontrolled environment like the streets”

He says the free bus often cannot pick up because cars park illegally at the two stops ‘ something the police could do more about.

Concerns about environmental damage as the targeted pubs move to plastic glasses after midnight were unfounded.

‘They are made of polycarbonate and get washed and re-used the same as glass,’ said Mr Gavin.

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has urged the government to consider whether the ban on glass use is successful in reducing the rate of violence when it conducts its evaluation into the impact of the new laws.