The first review of the contentious Sydney lockout laws has recommended that they could be eased off for venues showcasing music to restore the “vibrancy” of the city’s entertainment precincts.
The 151-page Callinan Review, by former High Court Judge Ian Callinan, was handed to the NSW government yesterday.
It suggested a two year trial where the 1.30am lockout could be pushed back to 2 am, and the 3am “last drinks” back to 3.30am in Kings Cross and the CBD.
But Callinan did agree that any relaxation “carries the risk of greater density and consumption of more alcohol” in these areas.
Similarly, he also said that his recommendation that the statewide ban on takeaway alcohol sales be moved from 10 pm to 11 pm and for home delivery to midnight “may elevate the risk of domestic violence.”
Callinan stated that the lockouts had changed Kings Cross and the CBD at night from being “were grossly overcrowded, violent, noisy, and in places dirty” to “much safer, quieter and cleaner areas”. However he acceded, they had come with a price, “with turnovers of licensees and some other businesses, and numbers of employees of them reduced.”
He added, “A relaxation of the amendments to this effect may go some way to an orderly restoration of vibrancy and employment opportunities in the precincts.”
Keep Sydney Open applauded the review’s suggestions, but said that even a 2 am lockout for a dynamic city like Sydney was unnecessary.
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, one of the champions of the lockouts, said that the findings only proved that the lockouts should be expanded statewide. “It’s a thorough report that largely confirms what public health, medical and law enforcement organisations have been saying,” its CEO Michael Thorn told ABC Radio.
The Callinan Review also addressed the argument from the live music sector that Melbourne remained a creative and exciting night time city without such laws. Callinan’s explanation was that Melbourne’s entertainment precincts were less compact than Sydney’s and “naturally lead to greater dispersal of people.”
The Government said it will respond to the Review by the end of the year.
Header image byFrancisco Schmidt/Flickr.
