Nightclubs under renewed pressure
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has backed the NSW Police Commissioner’s call to cut back licensing hours in an attempt to curb alcohol-fuelled violence.
At least half of all assaults in the City of Sydney area were alcohol-related and it was costing the council $7.7 million a year to manage the direct impact, she claimed.
The situation has got much worse over the past couple of years and it is getting out of hand, Moore said.
Despite council’s increasing alarm about the cumulative impacts of new premises opening and 24-hour trading, our hands are tied -” when we refuse applications from licensed premises it is usually overturned by the Land and Environment Court.
Moore called on NSW Premier Nathan Rees to order a review of recommendations made during the 2003 Summit on Alcohol Abuse, which included a recommendation to evaluate and tighten 24-hour trading conditions.
We’ve undertaken research to strengthen council’s case before Land and Environment Court appeals, but the bottom line is that we need the State Government to legislate to reduce opening hours and establish criteria around the concentration of licensed premises, Moore said. Councils need increased planning controls to deal with the proliferation of large scale licensed venues, she said.
Licensed premises were an important part of the city’s economy, Moore said, but the drinking culture needed to change.The level of violence and anti-social behaviour we are currently experiencing makes our streets unsafe for residents and visitors.
It comes as a group of Taylor Square residents complained of another weekend of sirens and violence.
Residents fear for their safety on the local street, even in daylight. It is a public safety hazard, the residents’ group plea to City of Sydney Council stated.
In addition to residents’ security fears, another broader issue is the cost to the State; already in a serious financial position, with the wasted police and hospital resources.
After a series of assaults on the weekend Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the state cannot arrest our way out of this problem. He added that it wasn’t just 24-hour venues, but many with extended trading hours as well.
The weekend’s incidents included a 21-year-old French man stabbed while waiting for a bus on Liverpool St near Oxford St, a US Marine punched into the pavement at Kings Cross, several more along George St, as well glassing attacks.
A number of Oxford St’s gay venues that recently sought renewed 24-hour trading hours were re-approved with police raising no concerns, including the Colombian Hotel.
It would have an impact, but we always operate in whatever licensing regulations there are, Colombian licencee Robert Doran told Sydney Star Observer.
If the regulations are changed across the board and everybody is operating on a level playing field then we will do that. We wouldn’t look favourably if it was done selectively on specific venues.
Have your say: Is reducing venue hours the key to curbing alcohol-related violence?
oxford st sucks i am one of the lucky ones-met a guy one night after 9 years of going to the shit hoe-he took me away from that street forever!!!
mike
I don’t think you’d need to do much research to prove the bleeding obvious. I’ve ever seen a serious fight in a gay venue, but at some local straight venues they seem par for the night. (And despite Oliver’s experience, an awful lot of guys get very aggro on grog, while the happy drugs only make guys euphoric. Except maybe for the ugly drugs like ice and ghb.) So the same question remains that we were asking this time last year: why continue to approve DA’s and licenses for these homophobic venues in a predominantly g&l precinct? The outcome is kinda inevitable.
Andy Mann I dont think you have to worry about The Beresford – at $55 for house chardonnay ($60 for the house sauvignon blanc) it wont last long. remeber these are the wizards that opened the Whitehorse Hotel which died in the arse. They forget about the locals chasing the beautiful crowd that hang around..gee for 6 months …oh..and the gay dummies that are prepared to pay those prices and line the pockets of Arab property developers with no connection to the community
The forced closures at 6 pm didn’t work in the 1950’s – it just created the 6 0-²clock swill and a culture of binge drinking – so for gods sake what make people think they will work now. Imagine there a 5,000 licensed drinking spots on Oxford St at any given night and them imagine what happens when all close at the same time. This idea is the most moronic piece of law enforcement rubbish I have heard of in years. A series of venues with progressive closing times throughout the night makes far more sense.
I was in London 2002 and at that time they had a 3 am close of most venues. We could not believe the amount of people on the streets. There were no trains to catch and the buses were full and taxi were even harder to get. We were heading out to Sheppards Bush and ended up walking for a while until we could catch an illegal taxi the rest of the way. This idea of closing at 2 am needs to be considered very carefully and the consequences it will bring.
Chris, arent we all supposed to be fighting the “Drug War” Oxford Street is the way its become because of the Silence Culture and Men not having the Balls to say “NO!” Im not always Chained and Bound to Kirribilli as you seem to think. I lived on Oxford Street for 5 years and breathed a sigh of “Fresh” air when I moved away!!!! Ill open the Sherry Chris, Chin Chin!!!!
oliver , funny how some queen who lives in Kirribilli seems to be the self appointed expert on Oxford St and all things gay lol….I have lived within a block of Oxford steet for most of the last 30 years.. i believe i am qualified to state MY opinion on MY neighbourhood . I am not glorifing drug taking Oliver .I am stating that it is the ‘ legal drug ‘ alcohol that is causing the problems on Oxford Street and all over the CBD ,not ecstacy. Your stubborn refusal to acknowledge this point just shows how out of touch you are. Think about this love while you are enjoying your sherry this afternoon in boring old Kirribilli.
My comment is related to the future of night venues in so far as how unpleasant my experience was at the latest venue in our precinct. Two of us thought we would check out the new Beresford Hotel on Friday night around 9.30 pm. We found the door security staff to be extremely unpleasant, homophobic and extremely unwelcoming. In response, my friend and I decided once we were inside, we would look around and then leave, refusing to spend a cent at the venue. Irrespective of what clientele the new owners of the venue want, they must recognise it’s gay roots and it’s place on our scene. Now I applaud anyone who wants to invest much needed money to revitalise our playground. But i just ask others to be aware of the attitude they receive there, and think about how they might respond. Two of Clover’s favourite words sprang to mind when leaving. Beer Barn. And to the residents of the very expensive apartments across the road. Good Luck.
This is getting ridiculous. We now have Clover Moore supporting the Police to restrict all bars to 2 am closing. It was, after all, City Council under Clover Morre that drove the criminal elements out of the Cross into our turf. Doe sshe now wish to drive the final nail into the Oxford St coffin?
The solution is not to penalise reputable and responsible venue operators, of which there are a number- oarticularly the gay venues. A more sensible approach would be to link any restriction in hours to the number of licensing breaches and offences committed within each licensed venue – that would soon hurt problem venues without penalising the responsible operators. Seems blindingly obvious to me.
Chris, nice of you to Glorify Drug taking. Its your care free attitude that makes Oxford Street the Outdoor Public Lavatory that it is.
Oliver ..yes I have been to Kirribilli many times..I had a friend who lived in Carrabella st and for years ( back in the 90’s ) the best fish and chips , in my opinion came from the fish and chip shop in Kirribilli Avenue. It is a very pretty suburb with a village atmosphere but it is so so so boring!!!!
You should not be pontificating on subjects you obviously have no real knowledge about. As i said earlier it is “the legal drug” alcohol which is driving anti social behaviour on Oxford St and all over Sydney. It is alcohol which causes people to become aggressive , vomit , glass people in the face , urinate in the street and generally behave
like idiots. People who take a few ecstacy pills and dance all night are not the problem , they are happy, friendly and are more likely to embrace you than hit you !
Oliver stick to subjects you know something about such as how to place your doilies correctly for afternoon tea in Kirribilli or putting some more lavender bags in your undies draw .
Tom wrote:
“Who moves to a residence in or around Taylor Square without expecting high levals of noise? It’s called common sense”
Who Tom? Actually the people who’ve lived here way before 24hour licenses were introduced and have tried to make this area still livable.
Would you like a slew of 24 licensed venues to open up right next to your block and have to move every time you feel unsafe or threatened by the patrons. You might be able to afford to do that, but I’m certainly not moving (even if I could actually afford to).
Andrew Scipione is correct when he states that they -œcannot arrest our way out of this problem. Maybe having a proactive police presence that spends asmuch time patrolling oxford st dealing with groups of drunks and other potential issues asthey do in the clubs checking to see if people are drunk and busting people for drugs.
We know they can do this as they demonstrated the tactic extremely well the weekend Maxi walked down the strip with Clover Moore, then police minister David Campbell and George Newhouse.
Spend some of the money that would otherwise go towards dealing with cleaning up these issues (granted this is out of the councils pocket). Why not use the same idea as ACON’s safe place to setup things such as a Police shopfront in trouble spots, not just Oxford st, to deal with issues in a more responsive manner and increase visibility at the same time. It’s nothing new, you see this in some shopping centre’s.
Although I feel that ideas such as 2am lockouts probably does have some positives, kicking partygoers out on the street will only exaccerbate the issue, when you have a train network that stops at 12-1am till around 6am (save a few services @ 4) and a taxi service that changes over at 3am, making the chances of catching a cab extremely difficult until 4am onwards (if you’re lucky). What are people supposed to do in the meantime?
And finally, residents living on oxford st need to remember that noise will occur on oxford st moreso than other places, not just around mardi gras.
The problem is with the straight clubs – close them down!! Why is everyone so blind to this fact?? when people point this out all everyone does is continue the old age argue of “now now not all straight people hate gays, blah blah blah BLAHH?” – YES we all have straight friends, but the majority (wich is to many) homophobic straight people are creating such violence in Oxford st!
– Margo Go Go 4 U!
Chris, the ones that pop a few pills and dance all night? They are the ones that contribute to it all. Chris I bet youve never even been to Kirribilli?
Yeah I agree, Gordo, it’s time for action now. Where is the Homophobia Free Zone campaign that was the hot ticket in the recent council elections?
In regards to closing times, I sincerely hope that a case-by-case approach is taken to the various nightclubs and pubs and what time they must close.
Like it or not, people are attracted to Sydney because of it’s party reputation.. But there’s still no excuse for lowest common demoninator type stuff being the norm. We need quality over quantity when it comes to Sydney after dark.
As a gay migrant to Australia from Manchester in the UK, and not having lived in Sydney, but visited on numerous occasions, it has in the last 2 years or so become a pretty anxious time in and around Oxford Street / Taylor Square. Moving straight venues in amongst gay / gay friendly ones attracts the bogan element from the suburbs who do not regularly come into contact with GLBTI people. Unfortunately they bring their homophobic and incongruent and grubby habbits with them.
Let’s face it, the ‘strip’ looks tatty and does nothing to entice tourists. A mixture of tack shops, junk food joints and drunken idiots stagerring about is hideous!.
Manchester, my home town is not perfect, but the ‘Canal Street’ area is not mixed with ‘hetero hop holes’!. Non-GLBTI people welcome of course, but any drunken behaviour is very quickly clamped down upon.
The bars and clubs and their attitudes towards their customers are light year ahead of even Sydney. Oxford Street is scruffy, scary and not welcoming.
With a city council constantly paying little more than lip service, take a strip out of Manchester’s book and actually engage (properly) with local people and business. Get rid of the dross from Oxford Street and you will see things brighten. Don’t do that, you are sounding the end bell!.
Sydney City Council, STOP being so complacent and actually DO something which actually makes a difference! SEND THE DROSS PACKING!
Oliver , busy yourself putting more lavender bags in your undies draw over at dreary old Kirribilli . It is the people
on the ‘legal drug ‘ alcohol who bash , urinate and generally cause havoc , not the ones who pop a few pills and dance all night.
The more nightclubs they close the better, they are nothing but Drug Houses!
My concern is the level of violence around Taylor Square very weekend morning during daylight. Many of the patrons are groups of young aggressive men, though some of the women are unbelievable, from outside the local area causing fights and urinating. Many have no respect for the local community and harass people going about their own business. The situation is so bad that there are regular teams of police (6 to 8) very weekend during day time hours which literately watch over these groups as they fall about Taylor Square and the surrounding streets. It’s like a nanny service for adults.
Who moves to a residence in or around Taylor Square without expecting high levals of noise? It’s called common sense.