Australia is an alcoholic

[poledriver]

Brother of one-punch victim Thomas Kelly makes moving plea to NSW Premier Mike Baird

IT WAS a devastatingly simple message from a 17-year-old who has had to suffer the heartbreak of losing his big brother.
“Australia is an alcoholic,” Stuart Kelly said. “We need to rethink the way we drink.”

Three years ago, Stuart’s older brother Thomas, who was 18 at the time, was brutally felled by a single blow from a drunk stranger in Sydney’s night-life epicentre of Kings Cross.
At an event in Sydney last night to raise money for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, Stuart brought the room to tears as he described the moment doctors told him “Thomas is in a critical condition and will not survive”.
“Those few words would change our lives forever,” he said.

“Action is needed through strong leadership from the NSW Government … to stop the growing epidemic of drug and alcohol abuse and misuse that is turning into senseless violence.”
Directly addressing NSW Premier Mike Baird, who was in the audience, Stuart asked: “Premier, will you make this promise?”

Thomas’s death in 2012, and that of Daniel Christie the following year, led to radical changes to the state’s liquor laws with 10pm closing for all bottle shops and 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks in the trouble hot spots of Kings Cross and the Sydney CBD.

And there’s little doubt the new laws have worked. Since their introduction in January 2014, data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) shows assaults in Kings Cross have plummeted by 32 per cent and 26 per cent in the rest of the CBD.

Last night, Mr Baird backed the reforms: “It is hard not to think that through the drop in alcohol-related violence there may well have been lives saved, and that is something that is incredibly heartening.”

BOARDED-UP BARS

But wander down Kings Cross’s main strip of Darlinghurst Rd and it’s clear to see the lockouts have had other consequences — boarded up pubs and shuttered shops.
“We’ve gone from a late night event zone that’s been built up over 30 years to restrictions that’s created a loss of jobs and venue and small businesses closures,” Kings Cross Licensing Accord Association chief executive officer Douglas Grand told news.com.au.

Among the big-name bar closures has been Hugos, run by celebrity chef Pete Evans’ brother Dave.
“We always said these laws would work against the good operators as well as the bad ones,” he told theDaily Telegraph in July.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw...emier-mike-baird/story-fnj3rq0y-1227532220298

 

[Felonious Monk]

Do you have any opinion on this?

I have trouble believing some of the places closed were "good operators" if they closed under these not unreasonable laws. People getting so drunk that murders are happening in the street is clearly a problem, and trying to get the alcohol community to police themselves is even more difficult than getting drug users to make smart choices.

 

[poledriver]

Me? I'm divided. I think it's basically just moved the trouble to new areas (like Newtown and the casino areas).

Australia does have a major alcohol problem but I would guess so do alot of other places in the world.

 

[Felonious Monk]

I read your whole reply before you edited it and I would have to agree. There has to be something that establishments can do to keep out/control the violent or aggressive element that makes it unpleasant for everyone. Unfortunately they have an economic disincentive because often those people have huge bar tabs, etc so they're very profitable clientele. I think if clubs had posted more security and were aggressive about keeping patrons safe it wouldn't have come to this point.

I also avoid lots of those same types of places, I agree that people have in general just become less friendly. It's probably LA too but people just kinda suck, especially in drinking scenes.

 

[SixBuckets]

I live in a near-the-city-but-not-affected-by-the-lockouts suburb and our neighbourhood is a complete shambles since the lockouts came in. The official word is that there's been no transfer of violence, but literally everyone I know has seen more brawls outside pubs or ambulances called for street attacks or roving gangs of men who obviously aren't locals intimidating people on the street.

We had a guy go to hospital after being punched in the head outside one of our trendy hipster small bars! If the trendy hipster small bars aren't safe, where is?

 

[spacejunk]

Lockouts are seriously bad news in my opinion.
More drunk and frustrated people roaming the streets in frustration.
Pubs and clubs might get people more intoxicated by staying open - but it's the angry drunk people with nowhere to go that are most likely to cause trouble. At least being inside a venue is a distraction and allows people to enjoy their night.
Afterhours venues are more fun anyway, i reckon.

Fuck getting kicked out at the same time as everyone else in the entertainment district and trying to get a cab home!

 

[SixBuckets]

Fuck getting kicked out at the same time as everyone else in the entertainment district and trying to get a cab home!

This is exactly why I've refused to go to Kings Cross for the last eight years. That and the fact that the last time I was there I was assaulted by a cop.

 

[spacejunk]

Jesus, that sucks.
Ive never been to the Cross at night, but it doesnt sound like my kind of night out...

 

[manboychef]

alcohol, once again proven to be an extremely dangerous "legal high".

This is not the answer to violence from alcohol. Create jobs by giving people security officers there instead of locking them out of bars. As prohibition in the states proved, people are going to drink regardless of restrictions. Instead of restricting it, why not make it safer.

 

[poledriver]

Liquor Licensing commissioner to investigate claims father of two was told to leave Lava Adelaide nightclub because he wasn’t drinking alcohol

AN Adelaide father who says he was told to leave a city nightclub because he wasn’t drinking alcohol has lodged an official complaint

The man, who asked to only be identified as John, said he was dismayed after being told by a security officer he could not remain in the Lava Adelaide nightclub if he was not drinking alcohol.

John, in his early 50s, said he had been dancing at the Pulteney St club without incident with a friend — who was drinking — when he was approached by a security guard about 1.30am Saturday.

“He tapped me on the shoulder as I was dancing and asked me to go with him, then he asked me ‘have I been drinking tonight?’ and I said no, I hadn’t been drinking, I’ve been having some non-alcoholic drinks,”

“And he said ‘well, you must be drinking if you are here’ and that it was a business decision because you can’t just be dancing around not spending money.”

John said he left the club with his friend before writing a complaint to the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner.

The married father of two young adults said if the edict was club policy as told by the security guard, it flew in the face of efforts to curb binge drinking.

“I was quite shocked, because the industry is trying to become more responsible, so I thought they were perhaps doing random checks to see if people were intoxicated, but it was completely the opposite,” he said.

John said he had chosen to speak publicly to prevent others from being pressured into drinking.

“There are other younger people that go to these places and the message is wrong, especially at that time of the night when you should be winding down from drinking anyway,” he said.

“The message is one that unless you drink you can’t have fun. And I’m here and have always been here to show my peers and friends that you can have lots of fun without having to drink,”

John said he was happy to pay any cover charge to clubs, and believed he had been the victim of discrimination.

“I should not be discriminated against because I don’t drink. I might not drink because I don’t like drinking, I might have a medical condition or on antibiotics or I might be a designated driver, all of these things weren’t considered by the security guard,” he said.

Liquor and Gambling Commissioner, Dini Soulio, said any policy that patrons must drink alcohol would contravene codes of practice governing licensed premises.

“Consumer and Business Services takes the responsible service of alcohol very seriously and is looking into this matter following receipt of a complaint,” Mr Soulio said.

“Without speaking about this case in particular licensed venues do have the right to refuse entry and request people to leave.

“However, if a venue has a policy that patrons must drink alcohol to remain on the premises, it clearly goes against the principles outlined in the Purpose of the General Code of Practice governing liquor licensing.”

John said he would not return to Lava Adelaide in favour of other venues which had no such policy.

“I’m a bit older but I love dancing and am new to the club scene as such, but it’s a bit of exercise and an outlet for me,” he said.

“My policy has always been zero alcohol when I’m out and I’ve never had any problem before.”

Lava Adelaide management did not respond to numerous calls and messages from The Advertiser yesterday.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...drinking-alcohol/story-fni6uo1m-1227547844439