With Brisbane Police calling for tougher venue restrictions last week as funding for the Government Drink Safe Precinct initiative drying up, Adelaide venues staring down the barrel of tough restrictions in a new Late Night Trading Code of Practice, and the continued pressures on late night venues and live music hotspots across the Sydney CBD; the issue of alcohol-related violence has been a rising concern across Australia.
The seeds have arguably already been planted, and now the problem has reached boiling point as News Ltd reports that NSW Police are spearheading a new nationwide crackdown on alcohol-related violence that’s considered the biggest in Australia’s history.
Operation Unite begins today with more than 1,000 extra police officers mobilised across NSW, along with hundreds more across Australia and New Zealand across the state’s capitals, forging a hardline stance that police and state government have already shown in targeting what they see as a disastrous increase in booze-filled violence.
NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher issued a statement that reinforced their zero tolerance policy and resolve to stamp out drunken violence, saying: “Don’t become a victim, don’t drink until you lose control and become a target for criminals, don’t get so blind you stumble into the path of traffic, don’t consume so many drinks you become a criminal and ruin your future through a conviction.”
“We’re not saying don’t have a drink, we’re saying don’t overdo it,” said Minister Gallacher. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back that led to the launch of Operation Unite was an incident outside Home nightclub in Darling Harbour last night that saw a securtiy guard assaulted, a woman knocked unconscious, and four men arrested.
“We need to send a clear message,” said Assistant Commissioner Max Mitchell. “I’ll be instructing all police involved in the operation not to use discretion. Where we identify a criminal act or an act that requires police intervention, we will be taking action. Either the person will be booked or they’ll end up in a police cell.”
Operation Unite will see specialist squads such as public order and riot police, transport and undercover officers, and licensing enforcement police rolled out and patrolling across the already tightly monitored areas and CBD hotspots as part of a number of high-profile crackdowns in Sydney’s entertainment districts – which saw gig-goers of Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses’ recent gig at The Factory perturbed by police with sniffer dogs.
“We’ll be paying particular attention in Sydney to Kings Cross, George St, The Rocks and Darling Harbour – all those areas that are saturated with licensed venues,” said Commissioner Mitchell. “We’ll have both visible policing throughout licensed venues and covert officers. With covert operations, what we’re looking for is those people who have clearly over-indulged, who should be removed from the venue.”
Pat Paroz, Commander of the NSW Police Drug and Alcohol Co-ordination, said that warnings over antisocial behaviour and drunkenness at licensed venues was no longer enough. “All police retain our individual discretion, but that discretion is in relation to minor offences,” said Paroz. “Offences involving alcohol usually involve violence and I don’t consider those minor. It’s about having a good time, doing it safely and not interfering with others.”
Extra squads are being assigned to all 80 of NSW’s local area commands this weekend, with a focus on entertainment precincts, which of course includes a large number of Sydney’s live music venues.
Operation Unite represents the largest effort to tackle the issue yet, a firestorm that’s claimed the Sydney CBD since the death of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly in a senseless attack in Kings Cross kick-started a political and social hotbed of discussion, the catalyst for the state of cultural flux that the city and its music scene are currently experiencing.
It’s been a tale of two cities for Sydney, while state government push for more extreme tactics, Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the local City Of Sydney council have attempted to curb the issues of alcohol-related violence and the city’s flagging cultural scene with a new policy called Open Sydney. The new cultural policy proposes nearly 300 new initiatives that aim to double the late-night economy’s annual turnover to $30 billion and increase after-hours jobs by 25 per cent by 2030.
The first major initiative being the recent Kings Cross Festival, which saw music, arts, local stalls and events all lighting up the popular – but lately troubled – night-time district over five days and five nights with a series of gigs, bands, cabaret, art walks, family events, and screenings across multiple venues.
All of which plays out against the tightening of the state government and NSW police’s tightening grip, with Premier Barry O’Farrell introducing a raft of new measures to crackdown on licensed venues in Sydney, including increased liquor licensing laws in Kings Cross, such as the introduction of plastic glasses after midnight, a mandatory alcohol-free hour before a venue’s close and mandatory ID scanning.
Similar measures are looking to be introduced to Adelaide by the South Australian Government following a report that led to the drafting of a new Late Night Trading Code of Practice. The tough new regulations including a prospective 3am lockout, mandatory metal detectors and ‘drinks marshal’s to late-night venue operators – pokie-lined pub halls and live music venues alike.
Over in Brisbane, similar measures may be introduced to the popular music district of Fortitude Valley, which contains the lion’s share of the city’s live music venues, if the Government expires the funding of the extended Drink Safe Precinct campaign.
“If DSP funding ceases in February as the Government has planned, and nothing is done, such as reducing licensed premises’ trading hours, there are real concerns amongst police that the nightclub districts in these areas will degenerate into the drug and alcohol-fuelled violence that we used to see,” stressed Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers.
With the government’s hardline push on alcohol-related violence looking to show no sign of stopping, the fate of live music venues across the country is inextricably tied. The wrongs of those who don’t know when to put down their glass, or their fists, may affect more than just the amount of police that are seen across Australia’s CBDs – but could affect the culture of live music itself if the government’s police operations continue to stifle late night culture by association.
