Pub lockout laws working in NSW
Police in Sydney’s Kings Cross where there has been a 32 per cent drop in assaults. Picture: Gordon McComiskie Source: News Corp Australia
The late-night pub lockout laws introduced in inner Sydney after Thomas Kelly’s death in 2012 appear to have cut assaults — but it may be because fewer drinkers are heading to the city, the state’s top crime statistician says.
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) director Don Weatherburn unveiled a review of the laws today, which linked them to a 32 per cent drop in assaults in Kings Cross and a 40 per cent cut in the CBD assault rate.
“Kings Cross and the CBD are now much safer than they were,” Dr Weatherburn said.
But he said more time will be needed to understand why assault rates fell.
“It’s possible, of course, that the new laws curbed alcohol consumption in Sydney and Kings Cross,” he told reporters at NSW Parliament.
“But it’s also possible that the new laws simply discourage people from going to these places.”
Source: The Australian - 16th April 2015
