A DAY after we learned that the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority had agreed to a review of Newcastle licensing laws, the diametrically opposed positions of the two sides shows why the restrictions are such a hot-button issue.
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On one side we have health professionals and the police, as well as the people whose research and campaigning did so much to help convince the authorities to rein-in Newcastle’s licensed premises trading hours in the first place.
They are adamant that the ‘Newcastle solution’, as it’s known, should remain in place, with the city’s most senior police officer, Superintendent John Gralton, even suggesting that a case could be made for tightening the laws even further.
On the other side stands the publicans’ body, the Australian Hotels Association, which called for the review, saying all it wants is for its Hunter members to be given the same opportunity as their colleagues in Sydney, where similar lockout laws were relaxed, slightly, late last year.
Hunter AHA delegate Rolly de With says the call for the review did not come from the association’s Hunter branch. But regardless of where it originated, the AHA has gone immediately to the heart of the matter, contesting research linking a reduction in Newcastle assault rates with the lockout laws. It was this statistical analysis that gave the Newcastle solution such strong impetus in the first place. University of Newcastle academic Kypros Kypri and others produced peer-reviewed papers that were accepted at the time as proving the utility of the overall package of laws. Subsequent studies only served to reinforce the safety-first message, which has gone on to be internationally recognised.
Now, however, the AHA is arguing that Newcastle is not the only regional centre where assault rates fell, meaning that factors other than licensing laws were at play.
Similar criticisms were made during last year’s review of the Sydney lockout laws, but the academics, together with the state government’s NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, stood by their work.
Nobody denies that this is a complicated matter, and all statistical studies have their limitations. So, if this review is to be fair and detailed, it will take a lot longer than the four or so weeks that the reviewers have left to finish their task. The completion date should be pushed back, and public hearings held.
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