JSRF10
Dick Tooth (41)
I’d be interested to hear people’s opinions on the new laws announced today by Barry O’Farrell to try and combat the 0.01% of people ruining everyone else’s nights out. The main points of the new laws are:
. Lock outs at 1.30am, closing at 3am for all pubs and clubs in CBD/Kings Cross/Rocks/Cockle Bay
. More laws in relation to assaults: mandatory minimum sentences would be introduced for other drug- or alcohol-fuelled offences, including reckless wounding (three years), assaulting a police officer in the execution of duty (two years), affray (four years) and sexual assault (five years)
. Bottle shops closing at 10pm
. Voluntary intoxication will be removed as a mitigating factor in sentencing
. Free buses leaving every 10 minutes from Kings Cross to the CBD on Friday and Saturday nights;
. A freeze on liquor licences for new clubs and pubs (with small bars, restaurants and tourist accommodation exempted);
. Increased on the spot fines for anti-social behaviour (eg, from $150 to $500 for offensive language and from $200 to $500 for offensive behaviour);
. Increase from two years to 25 years' maximum sentence for the illegal supply and possession of steroids;
. A ‘‘road safety-style’’ social media and advertising campaign targeted at alcohol fuelled violence;
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/barry-ofarrell-announces-tough-laws-to-combat-alcoholfuelled-violence-20140121-315wg.html#ixzz2r0GpQKOr
Now I’m not the kind of bloke who is out till 6am every weekend but I have been known to do it on a special occasion, is it really necessary to force every boozer to stop serving at 3am? Sydney is an international city and if you go to any other major city centre in the world you can have a beer whatever the time of day. I do like the option of having a beer whenever I want and I’m definitely in a camp where I don’t like the government telling me what I can’t do even though I’ve never broken the law in this regard.
I can see a few more problems with it; will this not force any violence issues out to suburbs where pubs can stay open later? Also my home city has closing at 1am everywhere and from 1 to about 3 its chaos as everyone staggers out onto the streets looking for cabs. Staggered closing hours should have been brought in I think; if your pub has problems with RSA or violence you close earlier. Also its been brought on off the back of a couple of pretty horrific drunken assaults (not coward punches, not king hits, they are drunken assaults) which occurred well before these closing times. From what I gathered Melbourne CBD tried something similar a few years ago but ditched it after it realised it wasn't working.
Free buses from Kings Cross to the CBD, what is this about? It’s just exporting the problem! Now instead of lads fighting over taxis in the Cross they’ll be doing it in front of the QVB. These buses should be going to major population and transport centres all across the city, Parramatta, Central, North Sydney etc.
Minimum sentencing could work but from my opinion of seeing its impact in the US of A it’s a slippery slope.
All in all the new laws seem like they aren’t going after the symptom, and will probably cost the hospitality industry some valuable $$$ in tough trading times. The state governments has pandered to a vocal minority IMO and are passing laws which prohibit the choices of the majority of the responsible population to deal with issues of a small sub set. Obviously there is no easy answer to guys getting pissed, taking drugs and punching each other but this is the wrong road to be going down.
. Lock outs at 1.30am, closing at 3am for all pubs and clubs in CBD/Kings Cross/Rocks/Cockle Bay
. More laws in relation to assaults: mandatory minimum sentences would be introduced for other drug- or alcohol-fuelled offences, including reckless wounding (three years), assaulting a police officer in the execution of duty (two years), affray (four years) and sexual assault (five years)
. Bottle shops closing at 10pm
. Voluntary intoxication will be removed as a mitigating factor in sentencing
. Free buses leaving every 10 minutes from Kings Cross to the CBD on Friday and Saturday nights;
. A freeze on liquor licences for new clubs and pubs (with small bars, restaurants and tourist accommodation exempted);
. Increased on the spot fines for anti-social behaviour (eg, from $150 to $500 for offensive language and from $200 to $500 for offensive behaviour);
. Increase from two years to 25 years' maximum sentence for the illegal supply and possession of steroids;
. A ‘‘road safety-style’’ social media and advertising campaign targeted at alcohol fuelled violence;
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/barry-ofarrell-announces-tough-laws-to-combat-alcoholfuelled-violence-20140121-315wg.html#ixzz2r0GpQKOr
Now I’m not the kind of bloke who is out till 6am every weekend but I have been known to do it on a special occasion, is it really necessary to force every boozer to stop serving at 3am? Sydney is an international city and if you go to any other major city centre in the world you can have a beer whatever the time of day. I do like the option of having a beer whenever I want and I’m definitely in a camp where I don’t like the government telling me what I can’t do even though I’ve never broken the law in this regard.
I can see a few more problems with it; will this not force any violence issues out to suburbs where pubs can stay open later? Also my home city has closing at 1am everywhere and from 1 to about 3 its chaos as everyone staggers out onto the streets looking for cabs. Staggered closing hours should have been brought in I think; if your pub has problems with RSA or violence you close earlier. Also its been brought on off the back of a couple of pretty horrific drunken assaults (not coward punches, not king hits, they are drunken assaults) which occurred well before these closing times. From what I gathered Melbourne CBD tried something similar a few years ago but ditched it after it realised it wasn't working.
Free buses from Kings Cross to the CBD, what is this about? It’s just exporting the problem! Now instead of lads fighting over taxis in the Cross they’ll be doing it in front of the QVB. These buses should be going to major population and transport centres all across the city, Parramatta, Central, North Sydney etc.
Minimum sentencing could work but from my opinion of seeing its impact in the US of A it’s a slippery slope.
All in all the new laws seem like they aren’t going after the symptom, and will probably cost the hospitality industry some valuable $$$ in tough trading times. The state governments has pandered to a vocal minority IMO and are passing laws which prohibit the choices of the majority of the responsible population to deal with issues of a small sub set. Obviously there is no easy answer to guys getting pissed, taking drugs and punching each other but this is the wrong road to be going down.