Lock-out laws under review
The NSW Government is taking submissions about its pub lock-out laws.
A NSW parliamentary committee has recommended that the laws, including 1.30am lockouts and 3am alcohol service cut-offs, be removed “with appropriate urgency” from licensed venues in the CBD.
But the report found the Kings Cross party precinct had “not yet sufficiently changed” to warrant the removal of lockout laws.
In its submission, the City of Sydney said the lockout laws have stopped 490,000 people under 35 from visiting the city every year.
Stats suggest there has been a 7.1 per cent retraction of the economy, and an ‘opportunity cost’ of 2202 jobs and $1.4 billion in turnover.
The NSW government has until March 2020 to provide a response.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who appears to be leaning toward ditching CBD lockouts, said a response is coming.
“We always need to find the right balance between community safety and boosting the night-time economy,” Ms Berejiklian said in a statement.
The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in August found non-domestic assaults dropped 53 per cent in Kings Cross and four per cent in the CBD since the lockout laws were introduced.
But in the same period, assaults rose by 30 per cent at alternative nightspots.