If you haven’t already seen it on the news, the notorious Kings Cross has been under scrutiny in the media once again. Sydney teenagers Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie were sadly both bashed to death in the area on separate occasions over the past two years by being “king hit”, a one punch attack that causes a fatal blow.Though their killers have been rightfully sentenced to jail (but not long enough for taking peoples’ lives!), their disgusting acts have made New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell plan to introduce new laws to combat inner city alcohol and drug related violence that could come into effect as soon as April.
While that sounds great on paper, the reality would be terrible for those wanting a good night out. The proposed laws entail that venues in popular nightclubbing areas must not allow any more patrons into their club after 1:30am and stop serving alcohol after 3am, and bottle shops would no longer be able to sell alcohol after 10pm. Many people are already skeptical about these proposed laws. Pedestrian.tv posted an article on this issue, and I saw many interesting comments about this on their Facebook:
- “As someone who was coward punched on George Street and had my jaw shattered, this is a crap idea. This is a social problem, not a booze problem.”
- But the incidents are occurring outside of the venues!”
- “Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t both Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie ‘coward punched’ around 10pm and 9pm respectively? The irony that these reactionary laws wouldn’t even save the lives of the very boys they’ve been designed as a response to…appears to be nothing but posturing from Bazza.”
- “This is going to accomplish exactly NOTHING. People who want to get shitfaced will just pre-game/pre-drink at home or at parties more than they already do now, so they’ll just be drunker earlier… or they’ll just decide that it’s cheaper, easier and more effective to buy pills, speed, ice or coke, because drug dealers don’t give a fuck about licensing or laws, they stay open 24 hours a day, they still ‘serve’ you despite how smashed you are, and they never ask for identification.”
There is a petition I came across to get O’Farrell to stop putting these laws into effect, arguing that both Victoria and Queensland attempted to place these lock outs and failed miserably for many reasons. Besides the fact it’s not fair that these laws will affect responsible partygoers, by having venues stop serving alcohol after 3am will make everyone leave nightclubs at that time and make people fight over taxis and have them all out in the streets at once, rather than letting them sporadically. The laws will also cause bar and nightclub employees to have their hours cut or lose their jobs, and possibly even entire venues being forced to close by the affect these laws will have on their businesses. I remember them trying to place these type of laws in Melbourne, and there’s a good reason they’re not around anymore. So if you’re a Sydneysider against this happening, this petition might help.
It’s amazing how the actions of only a couple of dickheads can fuck things up for the rest of us, isn’t it?
2 Comments
Novak
I agree with what you said, that passing the law would not be a good idea.
ps
You sound a bit like me, I enjoy drinking, clubbing, working out listening to music watching movies and am working on a screenplay
22 Jan 2020 11:01 pm (@Twitter)
Matt Wilson - Melbourne Nightlife Correspondent
Sounds like great minds think alike then, Novak. :)
22 Jan 2020 11:01 pm
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