Queensland Locked Out
Reclaim Your Nightlife – Shut Down the Lock Down
Posts tagged QPU
Article: Party people to picket over 2am lockout
Mar 17th
So here’s an article about the issue on the Brisbane Times. Direct Link Here. Please go into the Article on the Brisbane Times website and share your thoughts.
Critics of proposed changes to late-night trading hours in Brisbane’s entertainment precinct plan to picket Parliament House again should an inquiry into alcohol-related violence recommend shutting down pubs and clubs before 5am.
Speculation the state government will wind back late-night trading in Fortitude Valley and Brisbane’s CBD mounted today, as the Law, Safety and Justice Committee prepares to table its final report tomorrow.
In its submission to the inquiry in October, the Queensland Police Union called for the Valley entertainment district and parts of the CBD to be closed at 2am in a bid to curb the number of violent late-night street bashings.
Last week, 400 people marched along Alice Street in protest against the proposed blanket shut down as part of the “Reclaim the Nightclife” campaign.
Protest organiser Zach Salar said opposition would “increase tenfold” should the inquiry recommend shutting down the Valley.
“The state government can expect to hear from us again,” Mr Salar said.
“Many, many people are going to be pissed off. I am prepared to organise buses from the Gold Coast to have a centralised, massive protest.”
Mr Salar, 25, said a mass exodus of people from the Valley entertainment precinct come closing time would only compound violence on the streets, rather than reduce it.
“You will have thousands and thousands of people from vastly different backgrounds pouring onto the streets at one time. It’s a recipe for a violent disaster.”
He also said revellers would drink to compensate for reduced trading hours, leading to a surge in booze-fuelled violence.
Mr Salar cited the London experience where the Applied Criminology Centre reportedly found that extending late-night trading hours reduced alcohol-related violence in and around pubs and clubs.
“The rationale behind (extending trading hours) was that by removing fixed and artificially early closing times, the numbers of people exiting licensed premises would be dispersed over a long time period.
“The study found that this reduced binge drinking, violent behaviour, damage to property and disorder.
“Our ministers keep pointing to overseas experiences. How can they ignore this?”
He also pointed to the experience in Newcastle saying the winding back of trading hours would force small businesses and venues to shut up shop and drive young people interstate or overseas, “out of the nanny state”.
In Newcastle restrictions imposed on 14 hotels in 2008, including 1am lock outs, earlier closing times and a ban on the sale of shots after 10pm, saw assaults drop by almost a third within the year.
“But authorities have failed to mention is that 15 venues in Newcastle had to close because they went out of business. And hordes of young people moved out of Newcastle to Sydney and Melbourne,” he said.
“A lockout as proposed would be devastating to Queensland’s economy through the loss of jobs and small business and set Queensland’s urban cultural development back 15 years.”
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers has maintained that publicans and hoteliers, who opposed the push to reduce trading hours, have a responsibility to ensure the safety of patrons.
“How can you continue to serve young Queenslanders alcohol and then wipe your hands clean of any responsibility for violence on our doorstep?” he said.
“It’s time to put the interests of the wider community before the licensees desire to fill their tills for the maximum number of hours.”
Paramedics seek ban on pool cues at pubs and clubs
Jan 29th
QUEENSLAND paramedics want pool cues and glass ashtrays banned at pubs and clubs to reduce the risk of being attacked by drunks.
A survey of 142 ambulance officers showed 94 per cent had been assaulted in the past five years.
Of those, a third were punched or kicked and about half were spat at or had an object thrown at them.
The Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, which represents paramedics, says drunken violence is getting worse and called for curfews on offenders.
In the submission to a parliamentary inquiry on booze-fuelled violence, the union said it supported harsher penalties, more security cameras and police, advertising restrictions, education campaigns and metal detectors and ID scanners for late-night venues.
It agreed with the State Government’s glass ban, which will be rolled out in up to 75 high-risk venues next month, and said pool cues and other glass items such as ashtrays should be phased out.
LHMU assistant secretary Michael de Brenni said the risk of injury through alcohol-fuelled violence was “just not tolerable”.
“All steps have to be taken to remove that risk,” he said.
“A whole range of measures need to be implemented, including the removal of potential weapons.”
But Normanby Hotel owner Mark Lassman said it was going too far.
“What next – salt and pepper shakers … bar stools fastened to the floor?” he said. “The answer lies in personal responsibility. We need harsher penalties, not just for violence but anti-social behaviour.”
Bond University criminologist Professor Paul Wilson said banning pool cues and ashtrays was discriminating against the majority because of the behaviour of a few.
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Bligh keen to see if glass ban works in all licensed venues
Nov 26th
Any changes in licensing times, even a 3am shutdown will be dangerous for our community. Can you imagine everyone being let loose into the streets at the same time just as the night is being started. Here’s an article that was published in the Courier Mail today. Direct Link to article here
PREMIER Anna Bligh has directed a committee investigating alcohol-fuelled violence to explore whether all Queensland licensed venues can eventually be glass-free.
In a letter to the Law, Safety and Justice Committee dated October 6, Ms Bligh requested consideration be given to “the feasibility and workability of transitioning, over time, to the complete phasing out of regular glass in licensed venues”.
She said it would need to be in consultation with industry and the community.
Liquor Licensing Minister Peter Lawlor this month also wrote to the committee about the prospect of changing closing times from 5am to 3am.
“During the extensive industry and community consultation undertaken as part of that review, the Queensland Hotels Association, the peak industry body … indicated its members generally would be agreeable to a uniform 3am closing time,” he said. “I believe the association’s proposal merits fresh consideration by the committee.”
The State Government announced the parliamentary inquiry and a glass ban at “high risk” venues in July following the launch of The Courier-Mail’s Punch Drunk series on alcohol-fuelled violence.
However, it has had difficulty enforcing it after 13 of the 74 licensees issued with show-cause notices were given more time to fight the ruling by the Supreme Court.
The ban is now due to apply in February instead of December.
The Law, Safety and Justice Committee handed down its interim report yesterday, but the only recommendation was to have a separate inquiry into the impact of drugs on society. “The issue of the extent to which the use of illicit drugs contributes to the levels of public violence has been raised on a number of occasions,” chairwoman Barbara Stone said.
Ms Bligh said the Government would consider a separate inquiry into illegal drugs, but not before the current inquiry was completed.
“I know that there is growing public concern about alcohol-fuelled violence, and I accept the views from the committee that some of the violence we see on our streets … is fuelled by drugs,” she said.
Other proposals under consideration include networked ID scanners across key entertainment precincts, better education for youth and more funding for frontline workers.
The Queensland Police Union, which is leading the charge for earlier closing times, criticised the committee for not recommending any changes in the lead-up to Christmas, saying “Arctic icebergs move faster”.
The committee is due to make its final report in March.