Lockout pushes assaults out to surrounding suburbs

The latest figures show Sydney’s contentious lockout laws have displaced violence, pushing it out to the spillover areas outside the CBD and Kings Cross lockout zones.

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) data shows that the rate of assaults in areas such as Newtown, Bondi, Coogee and Double Bay increased between 11.8 per cent and 16.7 per cent after the lockout was introduced in February 2014.

However, the decline in the rate of assaults in the restricted areas was much larger. In Kings Cross, assaults dropped a massive 48.7 per cent. In the CBD there was a 12.6 per cent reduction.

The result: a net reduction in violence.

"Notably, the current analyses ... found evidence for geographically displacement of assaults to areas immediately adjacent to the Kings Cross and Sydney CBD areas, as well as to the other areas that were in easy reach of these precincts," BOCSAR said.

"While this suggests there has been a shift in violence away from the target sites to the surrounding areas, it should be remembered that the reductions in assault in the Kings Cross and Sydney CBD far outweigh the observed increases in the displacement sites."

Supporters of the lockouts say the figures show the lockout should be maintained and not watered down any further.

Spokesman and president of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation, Dr Tony Sara, pointed out that while the violence was being displaced, it was less severe in the surrounding suburbs.

"We have saved dozens of lives due to the imposition of the lockout laws," Dr Sara told 9News.com.au.

On the other hand, groups like the anti-lockout group Keep Sydney Open, say the figures show the law doesn’t solve the problem, it just shifts it.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the lockout will be reviewed in 12 months.

by Leon Gettler, March 7^th 2017