The following letter by 2011RA member Norman Thompson was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday the 13th July 2012:
Closing bars at 3am one way to reduce violence
The Herald’s editorial (”Enough is enough with Kings Cross lawlessness”, July 12) correctly argues that local and state governments must test what has worked and not worked in reducing alcohol-fuelled violence in overseas trouble spots and implement positive initiatives found there to help solve this problem.
Yet, the goals of the Last Drinks campaign (composed of nurses, ambulance officers, doctors and police) have been shown to work in our own state. These goals include a 12 month trial throughout NSW in which all bars will close by 3am with a lockout at 1am.
The campaign argues for a prohibition on the sale of shots, mixed drinks with more than 30 millilitres of alcohol and ready-mixed drinks stronger than 5 per cent alcohol by volume after 10 pm. The adoption of such measures in Newcastle helped to bring the number of alcohol-related assaults after dark in the region down by more than 30 per cent.
Such a scheme should be trialled throughout Sydney and carefully evaluated by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
Information
This entry was posted on July 13, 2012 by rwalkeruow in Uncategorized.
2011 Residents' Association 