Welcome to the global city. According to the Premier's Department, the local venues listed below will be hit by a 2am lockout from December 1. This was the problem in Melbourne -- selective lockouts just redirect the late-night punters elsewhere and cause stress and tension as people are barred from venues or compete with bigger crowds for scarce taxis. IT WILL NOT WORK.OXFORD HOTEL - Darlinghurst
EXCHANGE HOTEL - Darlinghurst
ARQ SYDNEY - Darlinghurst
STONEWALL HOTEL - Darlinghurst
TAYLOR SQUARE HOTEL - Darlinghurst
VEGAS HOTEL - Potts Point
PICCADILLY HOTEL - Potts Point
FIRST EMPIRE HOTEL - Potts Point
So basically, all the most popular venues?
ReplyDeleteYou got it. The only way these squelchers can operate is to penalise success. This lockout will fail, just as it did in Melbourne, because it is selective.
ReplyDeleteBut having destroyed NSW and the environment with this pathetic mini-budget, they need some tabloid distractions. I can smell a law-and-order campaign coming on.
Despite undeniable evidence that Rees' advisors were mislead by the Daily telegraph and flawed data the government is pushing forward with this injustice. Many of the hotels being punished are actually the venues which were doing the right thing and supporting the police as requested by the police; they were calling the police if they witnessed a problem in the neighborhood. Some of these venues have assaults listed against them on the BOCSAR data which were actually domestic incidents in the vicinity of the venue and unrelated to the venue, but as the venue made the call to give the police the heads up the incident is listed as an assault against that venue. Clearly the best way to operate is for venues to solve their own problems behind closed doors and turn a blind eye to everything that happens around them. The police have set the stage for massive social ramifications as previously proactive venues will refuse to call the police for anything, turn their backs on incidents occurring in their vicinity, and after 2am sit back and watch the officers running around, spraying their pepper spray, as thousands of people are forced out of safe, controlled environments onto the streets where no one will come to their aid. One thing is for certain, the police won't be continuing to drag the media around with them in Kings Cross after December 1, and I wonder if Channel 9 will be continuing it's series on our 'binge drinking culture' after the imposition of these new laws (still being imposed despite being proved useless in Melbourne) and showing images of increased assaults on the streets after 2am. I once heard the director of the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing say 'The safest place to be in Kings Cross is inside licensed premises' but that was before the disgraceful mini-budget and the NSW government's urgent need to turn the voters' attention elsewhere. Bring on the next election.
ReplyDeleteMelbourne has it together. Here's video of a 5,000-strong crowd outside Melbourne Town Hall protesting the lockout, listening to a barnstorming speech from Adam Bandt, the Greens' Lord Mayoral candidate.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6tkd3aPCR8
The Nightclub Owners Forum has been instrumental in successfully fighting the Melbourne 2am Lockout Trial and forcing the Government to back down on any further attempts to introduce blanket lockouts.
ReplyDeleteReaders can view the research and advocacy papers prepared by the NOF during its campaign against the lockouts on its website: http://nightclubownersforum.com/adocacypapers.html
This information may be of some assistance to licensed premises in NSW in their fight for common sense and justice