Queensland Locked Out
Reclaim Your Nightlife – Shut Down the Lock Down
Posts tagged Media
Vote now or accept lockouts and 2am shut downs
Apr 8th
Hi All,
Just wanting to get the word out that we only have a week to reject a reduction in trading hours and obtain the removal of the lockout.
The Government is canvassing opinions online on six of the recommendations handed down in the parliamentary inquiry.
We cannot afford to be apathetic about this and we need to vote – and vote in numbers. The survey ends on Friday April 16.
We’ve contacted the media, we’ve spoken with politicians, now it’s your turn to make your views known and vote on this survey. It does matter!
The results of the survey will have a major impact on the way the Government shapes its legislation and accepts or rejects the Liquor Reform recommendations.
We need you to vote and forward this on to your database to inform people this is actually taking place and not to miss the opportunity to have your say.
Vote here:
http://www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au/eSurveys/surveyfb4/index.cfm?SID=277
For further information:
Zach Salar
0412 086 614
zach.salar@queenslandlockedout.com
Press Release: Apathy may cost Queensland’s music scene dearly
Apr 8th
Please find attached our latest Press Release (pdf)
Please to have your say and not let earlier lockout and legislations go through. Make sure you fill out this survey and have your say:
SURVEY LINK
The Truth About Newcastle
Mar 17th
Here’s an article that grabbed our attention in regards to the aftermath of the shutdown in Newcastle. What Channel 9 failed to report is the absolute devastation it has caused for the economics and those who rely on the industry to work.
Link To Article Here. Thanks to the guys at The Shout for reporting this.
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) in NSW has branded tough liquor licensing laws trialled in Newcastle as devastating for both the hotels involved and employment across the sector.
AHA NSW CEO, Sally Fielke told TheShout it was disappointing that police had heralded the Newcastle restrictions on 14 pubs as a success when many of the major issues had not been adequately addressed.
According to a report commissioned by the AHA to review the impact of the restrictions, imposed on the 14 licensed premises by New South Wales Liquor Administration Board (LAB) in March 2008, the premises involved have suffered a collective loss in value of $22.5 million due to 1am lockouts and restrictions on the number and type of drinks sold.
All 14 hotels operate or operated in the Newcastle entertainment precinct but only six are still under the original management.
Clarendon Hotel, Customs House, Fannies of Newcastle, Kings Street Hotel, Grand Hotel and The Dockyard have not changed hands.
The Cambridge Hotel has had two changes of ownership since 2008, while Crown & Anchor Hotel, Queens Wharf Brewery and Great Northern Hotel have all had a change of both owner and licensee.
The Civic Hotel was destroyed by a fire and not reopened, Lucky Country Hotel has ceased operating, MJ Finnegans is under administration and Ducks Nuts Hotel and Hotel CBD have both seen their operator declared bankrupt.
The report calculated that employee reductions as a result had led to a 21.7 percent decline in the hotels’ workforce.
“The figures show the effect of these restrictions in Newcastle have been devastating for the hotels and for employment across the sector,” said Fielke.
“We are an industry that employs over 55,000 people across New South Wales. To roll out the Newcastle restrictions across the State would put almost a quarter of these people on the street.”
Fielke said the Newcastle restrictions could not be seen as a success when most of the major issues had not been addressed.
These she cited as: underage drinking, transport and antisocial behaviour in public areas.
“Of course you’ll reduce the road toll if you either close the roads or take the cars off the road – but are you addressing the issue?” she said.
“Licensees are angry and frustrated that they have been made to feel like criminals for what is a much larger community problem.”
Our Latest Press Release
Mar 9th
Please find attached our latest Press Release sent out to media outlets.
Anti-alcoholic violence police team disbanded ahead of report
Mar 8th
It seems like the State Government doesn’t even care about our safety. Kudos Anna Bligh! Way to tackle the problem; maybe if you reduce the amount of police in our streets then that will resolve the problem… sigh
All we ask for is more funding to be provided to our police so they can tackle the issues of alcohol fuelled violence and for harsher penalties against the offenders.
Thanks to the Courier Mail for reporting this. Link to actual article here:
A CRACK police unit targeting booze-fuelled violence has been disbanded just days before the Government is handed a crucial report on how to tackle the problem.
The flying squad, set up two years ago to target violent hotspots in some of the busiest entertainment precincts in the state, has been quietly grounded because of a lack of resources.
The district police chief yesterday confirmed the team of six operating out of the City and Valley would return to general duties and not be replaced, as part of a review into all specialist units.
A long-awaited report from the committee undertaking a parliamentary inquiry into alcohol-related violence will table its findings in State Parliament this week.
Premier Anna Bligh announced the inquiry in July after The Courier-Mail exposed the growing problem of drunken violence and injury at Queensland’s popular nightspots. The inquiry examined several strategies, including reduced trading hours, transport concepts and more resources.
Metropolitan North Assistant Commissioner Ross Barnett said the disbanding of the flying squad was about better deployment of resources. “We’re going to see how all these new practices work and continue to review it and amend it if we need to,” he said.
The move comes as the State Government rules out funding another Operation Merit, which targeted trouble by doubling officer numbers in the City and Valley club areas.
“Merit was a one-off and we’ve got to run our operations based on our approved strength, and the strength we have in the City and the Valley is a finite number,” Mr Barnett said.
“No one’s ever going to knock back more staff – that’s a luxury we don’t always get, but unless and until that happens, our challenge is to make what we’ve got as efficient and effective as we can.”
Operation Merit provided for 16,000 extra hours of police patrolling in December and January, which led to 589 arrests and 1415 charges.
Brisbane City Licensees Association president Mark Lassman said the more support they could get, the better.
“We can’t really enforce the law – so if someone’s becoming a problem and they’re asked to leave, this is where these guys were experts with dealing with that sort of stuff,” Mr Lassman said.
Police Minister Neil Roberts denied police were under-resourced and said they would continue conducting targeted blitzes in entertainment precincts.
Opposition justice spokesman Lawrence Springborg said that without the resources, any strategies from this week’s inquiry findings would be “window dressing”.
Shutout Plan Protest
Mar 4th
An article today in City News (Direct Link):
BRISBANE: Inner-city revellers and licensees are mobilising to fight for their right to party.
The Queensland Police Union’s push to shut inner-city licensed venues at 2am spawned the citizens lobby group Queensland Locked Out, which will protest outside Parliament on Thursday, March 11.
Organiser Zach Salar said he believed the shutdown would be an intrusion of civil liberties, reduce the vitality of the live music scene, result in the loss of hospitality jobs and tarnish Brisbane’s reputation as an entertainment hub.
Instead, he said group supporters advocate harsher penalties against anti-social and aggressive behaviour, increased police presence and security, an introduction of ID scanners at venues and chill-out areas in entertainment districts.
“We’re expecting 1500 at the moment,” Mr Salar said. “We want about 2000 to 3000 at the protest and we’re expecting a big push in the promotion of things over this week by the people.”
The rally has received support from Fortitude Valley bar owners Claudia Bordini of Kaliber and Andrew Ferguson of alloneword.
Ms Bordini said the 2am closure proposal would place more responsibility on licensees and less on an individual patron’s behaviour and would result in job losses.
“One-third of my staff are going to be out of a job,” she said.
Mr Ferguson said he lived in Melbourne when the Victorian Government tried to institute a lockout a couple of years ago and believes a similar protest contributed to a defeat of the proposed motion.
Valley Liquor Accord chairman Danny Blair said his group, comprising Valley licensees, police, Brisbane City Council, the Fortitude Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Queensland Taxi Council, had no association with the protest.
What do you think? Visit http://www.city-news.com.au and leave your comments.
PRESS RELEASE: An Open Letter to the Members of Parliament
Mar 2nd
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AN OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
2nd of March 2010
Dear Members of Parliament,
I would like to bring to your attention a rally I am organising against reduced trading hours for licensed venues across Queensland. The rally is to voice our disappointment and protest about such a proposal and to also highlight the Bligh Government’s insistence to continually treat adults as children and punish the majority because of the actions of a very small minority.
This is the real scenario; reduced trading hours will kill off the music scene in Queensland and the Valley, which has given life to every major band from the Bee Gees to Powderfinger.
Our protest is not without acknowledgement that there is a problem with alcohol-related violence. It would be a head in the sand attitude to think that no action needs to be taken to address the alcohol-related violence trend in society and Brisbane alike; however, I do not believe the solution is reducing trading hours.
Taking the point that reducing trading hours will reduce incidents, why not have curfews on driving on the roads between 1am and 5am when single vehicle accidents regularly occur because people fall asleep. The government obviously doesn’t see this as a viable solution so it tackles that problem in a different manner through effective campaigns and, rightly so, punishes people who drink and drive with suspensions and harsh fines to get the message across.
It would be far more effective to embark on this type of campaign of advertising and heavier penalties to tackle this issue in society – not just the Valley– than reducing trading hours. Tackling the cause and not the symptom is the answer. On top of that, the 3am lockout has been acknowledged by licensees, Chaplain Watch and the Taxi Association as causing more incidents than it is worth.
If hours were reduced and venues are forced to close at 2am or 3am; the problems associated with the lockout could easily exacerbate with 30,000 people shunted on to the streets at closing time. It would clog public transport and the taxi system; violence may actually rise unless of course there are significantly more police on the grounds to handle such a mammoth groundswell of people in the streets.
There is also the economic impact of reduced trading hours and in particular jobs, which many students rely on to get through their Tertiary Education, being lost as well as numerous other people who will lose hours.
This is why on March 11th (from 4pm), I am organising a major rally of students, music lovers, residents and people who care about the above issues and don’t want to see the demise of the culture in Brisbane, to gather outside Parliament. We are encouraging them to bring their parents and families to the protest to show that it’s not just the youth that care about this issue, its all Queenslanders.
There is more at stake than just trading hours. There are civil liberties at stake and the absence of a Government wanting to punish offenders and deal with the problem head on through education, tougher penalties and ad campaigns. That’s an issue for parents as well as their children.
It’s why I also extend an invitation for you to stand beside us or at least address the rally on your views. I’m also asking for your support to sponsor an official parliamentary petition which we will distribute across to every contact we have.
Please, do not destroy the culture of our great State.
Warm Regards
Zach Salar
M: 0412 086 614
E: zachsalar@gmail.com
http://queenslandlockedout.com
Protest date has now been organised
Feb 22nd
Hello all, we have now organised our protest Date. On Thursday, March 11th we will all be meeting up outside Parliament House on George Street to protest against any earlier shut downs. We have some special guest speakers organised to voice their opinions and it will be our chance to unite against such radical measures.
We need to make a significant presence if we want them to listen to us, so invite your friends, bring them all down and be part of something magical.
Here’s the link to the event on Facebook
What can you do?
Nov 26th
I have been getting many emails from hundreds of people in regards to what they can do to help. One question has come up constantly which I feel needs to be addressed is “what can I do?”
There’s a lot you can do which will help our cause. We need to be united in this matter! We admit that there is a problem in our entertainment precincts but the minority that do cause such problems are the ones that need to be punished, not an entire community. So here are a few things that you can do to try and prevent this.
- Sign the petition: The petition is available via the here. Go in there and sign it and stand up for your rights.
- Join the Facebook Page and Invite all your friends to it: The Facebook fan page for Queensland Locked Out is located here. It will enable you to keep up to date with everything that we’re doing in our attempt to fight this. Once you’ve joined the fan page, invite all your friends to the fan page. It is a tedious process to add everyone individually but that little time you have spent in doing so, will be promoting the cause, the movement, the website and the petition. Other forms of facebook promotion such as a change in profile pictures and status updates will also be highly effective in getting the word out. Many of us promote events, here’s your chance to promote your stance so you can attend those events.
- Email Your MPs: You can find your MPs email address by downloading the following PDF and sending them a profanity free email explaining your position against any sort of a lockout. Keep the emails short, to the point explaining why you’re against it and why there are better solutions in resolving the issues.
- Buy a T-shirt and wear it out: From each T-Shirt we make $5 profit which will go directly into organising the protests and preventing an earlier shutdown from going through. We are not pocketing any of this money since prevention of an earlier shutdown is our reward. Wear them out proud and promote your stance against the shut down. You have the choices of Three different T-Shirts which are available Here, Here and Here.
- Get involved with the Media: Call your radio stations, write an editorial, make comments on news articles online and get involved. Let your voices be heard. This is your nightlife and if you don’t speak up, they will ruin it because of those few criminals that are causing trouble.
- Donate some money: If you can’t afford a T-Shirt, then surely you can afford a dollar or 2 to donate to the cause. Whatever amount you decide to donate, it’ll accumulate and be a great help. The donate button is located on the right hand side of our website.
- Attend the Protests: Early next year a major protest will be organised across the cities in Queensland. They will be peaceful, alcohol and drug free with plenty of special guests that share our message.
This is your only chance to prevent an earlier shutdown/lockout from going through. Reclaim Your Nightlife and do what you can to prevent a shutdown.