By James Atkinson
New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell has this afternoon announced tough new conditions on Kings Cross pubs, bars, nightclubs and restaurants following an audit by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing.
Click here for a full list of the 58 venues affected by the new restrictions outlined below.
O'Farrell said a recent audit of all late trading venues in the Cross last month made a compelling case for dramatic change.
"During the audit, the incident registers of the late trading venues – registers they are required by law to keep – were carefully examined," O'Farrell said.
"That examination revealed a large disparity between the number of people being refused service because they were drunk; and the number of people turfed out for being drunk.
"Many more people were turfed out than were refused service – a scenario which has raised serious concerns about the application of responsible service of alcohol laws in the Cross.
"The unfortunate conclusion is that in the Cross, you will continue to be sold alcohol until you are so drunk you are thrown out – and the problem is transferred to the streets."
The changes in the licence conditions in the Cross will mean that on Friday and Saturday nights:
- shots, doubles, and ready-to-drink beverages (over five per cent alcohol) will be not be sold after midnight;
- no-one will be able to buy more than four alcoholic drinks at a time after midnight;
- from 11pm, two Responsible Service of Alcohol marshals must be on duty in each venue; and
- no alcohol will be sold or supplied in the hour before closing.
On every night of the week, the changes will mean:
- glasses, glass bottles and glass jugs will be banned after midnight;
- venue managers will immediately notify police of any violence causing injury, and preserve the crime scene;
- all licensed venues trading past midnight must maintain a digital CCTV system covering entries and exits, the footpath immediately adjacent to the venue, and all publicly accessible areas within the venue (excluding toilets). It must operate continuously from opening time until one hour after closing and footage must be provided to authorities within one working day of a request; and
- incident registers must be maintained at all times, rather than just just after midnight, as is the case now.
What another knee-jerk reaction from the State government.
Let’s look at this properly, firstly, this was in response to the tragic death of Tom Kelly at 10pm on a Friday night, with no suggestion that either the victim nor the perpetrator had been inside a licensed premises. So how exactly does that correspond with Kings Cross being portrayed as the devil?
The media has beaten the hell out of the whole Kings Cross region, due to its high profile. On the same night that Tom Kelly was tragically killed, a young man was stabbed to death in Parramatta. Barely even makes the news, and that clearly had intent to kill owing to the use of a weapon.
Most of the beat-up has come from local residents who moved into the Cross and now complain about the fact that they live in Australia’s biggest late night entertainment precinct. They moved to the Cross when they were 20, and have expected the Cross to age with them, which obviously it hasn’t.
This short sighted response also includes “On Saturday and Sunday mornings the licensee must cease selling or supplying liquor on their premises one hour before the premises are required to cease trading, or, if the premises are authorised to trade beyond 5:00am, between 4:00am and 5:00am”. So in short, ALL bars in the cross must stop selling alcohol at 4AM!
When I finish work at my bar, I can’t go across the road and get a drink.
Nor can I even purchase a cocktail in Kings Cross after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
We all work so hard to progress the industries drinking culture to include premium products, and quality drinks that extend bourbon and cokes, but clearly with one foul swoop the state government is stamping that out in the cross.
Lets also ignore the fact that if a bar is required to trade for an hour without being able to sell drinks, that people will instead turn to illegal substances.
We also know from history, that once this is rolled out to the cross it will be used as an example for other liquor accords to follow and will be pushed across NSW.
Seriously Barry O’Farrell, go back to the drawing board, create a proper working plan, and sort your stuff out.
so you can’t get a drink an hour before a joint closes. Wow Barry you’re a genius. That means that a place that calls last drink at 2am will lose all patrons to the place next door that stays open til 5am. Go figure