Sydney’s outraged response to latest lockout data

The Sydney live music community is up in arms over yesterday’s report from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics about the city’s lockouts in the CBD and Kings Cross.

Data covering the February 2014 introduction of the lockouts showed that assaults dropped 49% in Kings Cross and 13% in the CBD during the lockout.

But as the live music sector had warned, the problem has shifted to nearby areas, where residents are complaining they no longer felt safe. The report said that assaults in areas neighbouring the lockout zones (Ultimo, Surry Hills, the Star in Pyrmont) were up 12%.

Popular areas including Newtown, Double Bay and Bondi triggered a 17% rise in street assaults during lockout periods.

Bureau Director Dr. Don Weatherburn said: “It’s a matter of concern that we’ve seen major reductions in assaults in the target areas, but there’s been at least some spill-over into other parts of Sydney.

“There’s no doubt, even if you look at the transport data, that the number of people going to Kings Cross has dropped dramatically.

“In Sydney, the evidence is nowhere near as clear, and it may well be that the small reduction there is entirely contributable to the earlier closing times.

“But if you look at the report, you’ll see at 32 months there are definite upswings in the number of assaults occurring in the area immediately surrounding the lockout precincts, and in the areas within easy reach of those precincts.”

Weatherburn was also concerned that the drop rate in the lockout zones may be temporary as violent trends in nearby areas grow.

Newtown was the first to react. Within hours of the data being made public, Reclaim The Streets announced a rally to protest the growing violence against Newtown’s diverse community.

The multi-stage mobile rally will be held in Victoria Park at 4:00pm on Sunday March 19, after a dance down King Street.

Reclaim The Streets spokesperson James Loch said yesterday’s statistics confirmed community feeling that Newtown had become less welcoming and increasingly dangerous.

“Locals have been telling police and the government for years that the lockouts are displacing violence into Newtown, but it has always fallen on deaf ears. Maybe they will pay attention now.”

“These are our friends, our families who are being harassed, bullied, intimidated, and beaten. We all came to Newtown to avoid that kind of bollocks, but thanks to the Liberal Government it has followed us here.”

Keep Sydney Open also emphasised that the live music industry and the community had tried to warn the Government about displaced assaults.

It posted: “The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics Director, Don Weatherburn, even says the effects of the laws have not yet fully played out.

“Melbourne dropped them, and Queensland aborted their plan to introduce lockouts. That leaves Sydney’s nightlife as the laughing stock of the nation, and indeed the world.

“It’s time to rethink these terrible laws.”