Ian Callinan went on a tour of Newcastle night life with Tony Brown, pictured, as part of his review into the success of the Sydney lockout laws.
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Led by former High Court judge Ian Callinan, the report recommends the 1.30 a.m. lockout and 3 a.m. last drinks times in certain live music venues should be pushed to 2 a.m. and 3.30 a.m. respectively.
Deputy Premier Troy Grant said the government will now “consider” the report and deliver a response before the end of the year.
The court in August found the secretary of the state’s Justice Department did not have the authority to “declare” a city venue subject to the 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks rules.
Many of the opponents said that they treasured live music and resented any deprivation of it, which they, as well as numerous licensees, said had occurred and was attributable to the Amendments, in particular the lockout.
“The two precincts at night were grossly overcrowded, violent, noisy and in places dirty before the amendments”, he said in the report published on Tuesday.
After their introduction “they were transformed into much safer, quieter and cleaner areas”. A study this year found found the number of late night punters in the CBD has dropped by 80% while in their submission to the Callinan review, popular Kings Cross club World Bar revealed that it had experienced a 25% drop in annual turnover since the lockouts started in 2014, alongside a bill of almost $225,000 to comply with the new licensing conditions.
While there has been “no significant increase” in violence to other areas such as Newtown, Double Bay, Bondi and the Star Casino, some of the discretionary spending was likely to have shifted.
Mr Callinan said the laws had achieved the objectives the Government had intended.
Callinan also addresses the controversial restriction of take-away alcohol sales, saying that it “made little or no contribution to violence and anti-social behaviour” whether alcohol was purchased before or after the 10 PM curfew, suggesting this could be extended to 11 PM. “From first glance the report from the Callinan Review suggests that a relaxing of the lockouts and last drinks by half an hour could be trialled, in some venues”, she says.
He suggested too that live music venues could be permitted to allow entry until 2am, and to serve alcohol until 3:30am, “so long as live entertainment is being generally continuously offered throughout the evening until then”. “Some supporters of the Amendments say that live entertainment should stand on its own two feet and not be dependent on sales of alcohol”. “There has been unquantifiable adverse impact on live entertainment, profits and employment opportunities in the Precincts”, he wrote. “It needs to be understood again however that such a relaxation carries the risk of greater density and consumption of more alcohol in the Precincts”.
The government’s lockout laws in Sydney could be relaxed for live entertainment venues. He told host Tom Tilley that “It’s not fantastic, and I really did have higher expectations of what Mr. Callinan has come back with.it’s still up to the government if they’re going to take up the recommendations”.
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Critics of the law had suggested the lockouts had simply moved crowds to other parts of the city, while shuttering businesses in key entertainment precincts.
