Published
Tue, Jan 24, 2017, 22:30
- QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced the controversial measures will be dropped a week before they were due to be implemented.
The Queensland government have announced that they will not be going ahead with plans to introduce a 1 AM lockout on February 1st.
Similar to Sydney's controversial laws, the second phase of the government's licensing crackdown was to see patrons unable to enter or re-enter late-trading venues after 1 AM, following the implementation of a 2 AM alcohol service curfew across the state—or 3 AM in designated 'Safe Night Precincts'—in July 2016.
QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Monday that the 1 AM lockout would no longer be going ahead for venues in these precincts (including Brisbane's Fortitude Valley) and that instead her government would be introducing mandatory ID scanners as a measure to combat alcohol-fuelled violence. Venues within the precincts had also been allowed up to 12 one-off permits per year to serve alcohol past 3 AM for special events, a number which will now be halved.
A report on the first six months of the licensing restrictions in place showed they had had a minimal impact on alcohol-related assaults in the state. It explains that "the introduction of lockouts (one-way doors) is not likely to significantly change current trends (except for pre-drinking)," going on to suggest that the one-off late-trading permits had "compromised the impact of the policy."
Local organisation Our Nightlife Queensland took to Facebook to express relief over the announcement, though saying that "it is disappointing that government still wishes to play the blame game around the ineffectiveness of their policy, again crucifying venues for following the letter of the law regarding extended hours permits... We look forward to working on a nuanced approach to ID scanning in our precincts, so that low-risk venues can continue to trade as normal, whilst high-risk venues implement scanning and banning."
The news follows a turbulent week for Sydney's lockout fight, in which a Keep Sydney Open rally was prohibited from taking place by the NSW Supreme Court.