Lockout laws are back in the spotlight this week after an estimated 15,000 protestors took to the streets of Sydney to campaign against New South Wales’ late night restrictions and their debilitating effect on the city’s nightlife.
The momentum being gathered by our Eastern neighbours is being felt in Adelaide, with a rally to ‘Reopen Adelaide’ already gathering several hundred attendees on Facebook. The issue of South Australia’s Late Night Trading Code of Practice has been a contentious one since its introduction in October 2013, with venues like Cuckoo folding and other long-running bars like Shotz voicing their frustration at how Government intervention has altered patronage.
But how do our laws stack up against the restrictions facing Sydney’s CBD Entertainment Precinct? Are the conditions facing our clubs and late night destinations comparable to those being blamed for rendering Sydney a late night ghost town?
Lockout times
In Adelaide, the code bars licensed venues from admitting any customers into the venue – new or returning – between 3.01am and 7.00am.
By contrast Sydney’s Entertainment Precinct lockouts are enforced from 1.30am for hotels, registered clubs and nightclubs, a full hour and a half earlier than South Australia’s.
But that’s not the only difference between the two cities.
Last Drinks
In addition to the 1.30am lockout, affected Sydney venues are also forced to serve last drinks at 3.00am, effectively curbing activity in the club after this time.
Meanwhile South Australian bars can continue serving into the wee hours to the select group of partiers who got through the door before 3.00am. And party we do, with venues like Red Square regularly pushing on until doors can officially reopen to the public at 7.00am.
Drink restrictions
Since 2015 Sydney has enforced an after midnight ban on shots and other similarly potent drinks. Outside of clubs however, a ban on bottle shops trading after 10.00pm has led to the oft-ridiculed ‘not being able to buy a bottle of wine in Sydney after 10.00pm’ situation.
Adelaide does have restrictions on beverages that “may encourage the rapid excessive consumption of liquor”, but only after 4.00am. Or, as the code details in adorably old-fashioned lingo, drinks including ‘shooters’, ‘doubles, ‘laybacks’, ‘test tubes’, ‘blasters’ and ‘stingers’.
Exemptions
The New South Wales Government has come under fire for allowing sites like the Star Casino to flourish just outside the Entertainment Precinct despite their own histories of occasional violence. Adelaide’s code also lets our casino off the hook, with Skycity Adelaide – and restaurants within it – specifically exempted from the measure.
The results
Following a review into the Late Night Trading Code that among its recommendations pointed to a 12.2% drop in CBD offences between 12.00-7.00am from October 2013 to September 2014, South Australian Attorney-General John Rau opted to retain the laws citing an unspecified downturn in violence. This is disputed however, with some commentators claiming other factors separate to the lockout, such as increased police presence and better security measures have contributed to the reductions.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Premier Mike Baird has almost dogmatically repeated a drop in alcohol related assaults of 42.2%. But those statistics are also questioned, with some arguing downturns are simply part of a wider long-term trend.
And while over the past two years Adelaide has seen venues such as the Dog and Duck, Savvy and Cuckoo close and others like Sugar and Shotz go public with their stories of falling business, we’ve also seen plenty of newcomers pick up the slack, as well as spaces like the Dog and Duck reopening under new management. Although the section of the community served by comfy wood-panelled wine and soul bars is perhaps a little different to that which frequents late night dance clubs, the broader bar scene has continued to grow.
The future for Sydney
Despite the massive showing in Sydney, there’s little indication Premier Baird is planning to revise the New South Wales plan, having previously knuckled down on social media, describing critics as “hysterical”.
Let’s start with a statistic about Sydney’s nightlife that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per…
Posted by Mike Baird on Monday, 8 February 2016
However, Leichardt Mayor Darcy Byrne is seeking an exemption to live music venues. But as it seeks to make the increasingly arbitrary distinction between live performance and a DJ (or ‘some guy playing a Spotfiy playlist’), it will hardly be much of a salve to those in the movement who see any one-size-fits-all ban on late night barhopping as an affront to our right to party; a privilege that the Beastie Boys fought so damn hard for.
As for Adelaide…
In South Australia, thinks are looking a bit more settled. In July last year the State Government opted to maintain the status quo for a further 12 months, with a few changes including bringing forward a ban on “free beverages or beverages that promote rapid or excessive consumption” from 4.00am to 2.00am.
The Government did however resist the review’s recommendation to beef up a ban on drinking in outdoor areas from 2.00am to 12.00am. Another proposal to class shots as restricted drinks has been put on the backburner pending further consultation.
While an appetite for further, Sydney-style restrictions here in South Australia remains alive and well in some sectors, with outgoing Police Commissioner Gary Burns suggesting a 2.00am curfew could further help discourage pre-drinking, Rau has expressed a desire to minimise the perception of his Government as “a kill-joy”.
For many of the 650 people planning to march on Parliament House on April 6 however, it might be a little too late for that.
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Photograph:
Zak Kaczmarek via Keep Sydney Open / Facebook
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