NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell's new alcohol package received thunderous applause when it was announced on Tuesday. The Police Association, Sydney's two daily newspapers, the Sydney Business Chamber’s Patricia Forsyth, the parents of victims of violent crimes and many of the health and alcohol policy bodies gave the earlier closing times in Sydney's expanded CBD and the heavier penalties for alcohol-related crimes a big thumbs-up.
However, it is likely that once the dust settles, reality will look much like business as usual.
While the array of measures unveiled with much fanfare look, at a distance, quite impressive, each one is flawed or inadequate and as a whole, may well leave Sydney facing the same toll of unacceptable violence. Meanwhile powerful sectors of the liquor industry will continue to reap massive profits.
Even if it were true that 1:30am lockouts and 3am last drinks reduce street violence – and there are deeply divided opinions on this – limiting the application to the CBD, Darlinghurst and Kings Cross will inevitably result in displacement of the problem to the neighbouring hotels and clubs. Coogee, Bondi Junction, Balmain, Chippendale and Newtown could well become the next hot spots.
It's not hard to envisage busloads of revellers, unable to get a drink at the venue they have been partying at in Kings Cross after 3 am, pouring into the outlets that are just outside the expanded CBD precinct.
The Premier told the media that he will deal with this problem if and when it arises. Given the current culture of entertainment in the centre of Sydney it will inevitably arise and given the urban geography of the city it will be very hard to resolve without an ever-expanding boundary for the application of lockouts and last drinks.
The decision of the O’Farrell government to exempt the casinos from the lockout and last drinks makes a mockery of the measures. It is a testament to the combined power of the gambling and alcohol industries.
Increased penalties for crimes committed under the influence of alcohol have been severely criticised for being ineffective and unjust. They might make for good headlines and parents might feel safer but the evidence is clear that potential perpetrators of violent crime will not be dissuaded from their action by the threat of an additional five years in jail. Nor is it likely that people will drink more moderately because of the threat of additional penalties if they subsequently commit a violent crime.
What is true is that the burden of these laws will fall unequally on the young, the disadvantaged and on Aboriginal people, without making the streets or homes safer.
The effectiveness of the community awareness program announced with the package of reforms will be compromised by the O’Farrell government’s failure to act against dangerous promotions of alcohol.
Shopper dockets offering alcohol purchase inducements such as two-for-one deals, deep discounting of package alcohol and promotions aimed at young people will continue with very few restrictions. All of these were within the O'Farrell government's ability to curtail and each of them will contribute to a terribly mixed message.
Culture change through public media campaigns is possible. Successful examples include smoking, drink driving and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, all of which have been substantially controlled by well-designed marketing campaigns. However, in each case there was no countervailing message to, for example, continue smoking.
Closing bottle shops at 10 pm will have almost no effect on the proliferation of Coles and Woolworths-owned chains of liquor outlets and will do almost nothing to impede the practice of preloading which is alleged to substantially contribute to alcohol-fuelled violence.
If the O'Farrell government had wanted to make an impact on alcohol-fuelled domestic violence, the package would have featured not only a freeze on new bottle shops but a plan to reduce the number in neighbourhoods where existing densities are high and domestic violence is prevalent.
Unfortunately violence in the home is better hidden from TV cameras than the regularly-reported coward punches and street fights. However, the real toll of the 370 incidents a day in NSW demands action just as much as the high profile deaths in Kings Cross.
The O'Farrell government has won itself a reprieve from media and community pressure for action against alcohol-fuelled violence.
They have not however gone to the heart of the problem. If they had, there would have been real controls on liquor outlet density and on promotions that encourage excessive and dangerous consumption. There would have been serious pressure on venues to practice responsible service of alcohol and there would have been legislation to end the well-worn career path from politics to the liquor industry.
It is hard to escape the feeling that the package of measures would have been much more effective if the NSW Liberal Party's former fundraiser had not been the current head of the Australian Hotels Association (NSW) and if the Premier's former chief of staff were not director of corporate affairs for Woolworths, the owner of four liquor outlet chains.
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