Newtown MP Jenny Leong has accused the New South Wales government of exploiting the tragic deaths of Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie to enforce lockout laws in Sydney.
Speaking on at youth organisation House Of Riot's panel regarding the future of Sydney's nightlife at Belvoir Theatre on Tuesday night, Leong spoke candidly about her views on the contentious laws brought in last year, following the deaths of the teenagers who were both attacked in Kings Cross in separate attacks.
"What occurred here was our politicians using what were individual tragedies as a way of pushing and imposing a law-and-order agenda and response onto a whole community of people," Leong said.
"It is the biggest insult to the community of Sydney to pretend that all of a sudden because of that incident that happened…is the reason for what we’re doing here."
The Greens politician claims that the government did not work with the community as to how to keep Sydneysiders safe during nights out, but rather forced the laws on to bars owners and its venues.
"I think we need to be really honest about we did here. The intervention that we had, wasn't an intervention to try and say ‘How can we keep Sydney’s nightlife open and safe?’ because if it had been like that…people that have been running the venues and the live music options in the cross for long periods of time would have been consulted about how we solve this problem."
"We don’t have to take an extreme measure to say everything has to shut at 12 because it’s not working – that’s when you work with the community…"
NSW police officer Scott Weber who also spoke at the panel, admitted that while the laws are harsh, it is the right thing to do.
"It's about making sure everyone in this room is safe," he explained to those in attendance.
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"I don’t want to lock you up, I don’t want to see you in the back of an ambulance, I definitely don’t want to see you in hospital and the last thing I want to do is tell your family you're dead."
Weber also contested that the laws were a knee jerk reaction to deaths that occurred in Kings Cross, by revealing that the movement actually began in 2008.
"Kings cross and the inner city was a massive issue, but we lobbied for a long period of time," he said.
"You know what I regret? Is that two people had to die for this to actually get over the line."
Samantha Torres of the Office Of Liquor, Gaming & Racing, who was one of the key players in imposing the government's plan for the lockouts last year, insisted that the safety of the city was at the forefront of the strategy.
"The idea was, stop the dangerous behaviour, address the violence issue…if we can then develop longer term solutions to drive the culture in a certain way, then that’s what Government’s looking to do," Torres said.
"Again, it’s not about stopping nightlife, it’s about an appropriate approach to nightlife in various cities or suburbia or wherever the hell we happen to be."
Meanwhile, representative of Keep Sydney Open, Tyson Koh slammed the laws as a "losing battle".
"People are always going to want to go out until late. People have wanted to watch the sun rise after a night out since Roman times," he said, adding, "It’s a bit of a fallacy to say that a venue cant be responsible if it opens until six, seven or even 8am."
VIVID Ideas curator Jessica Scully echoed Koh's comments by adding that the lockouts put in place are not "financially viable" for clubs and bars in the city, especially when "they have rapidly changing unpredictable legislation, when they have staffing costs that can change depending on when you decide that you want to close the venue..."
Leong commented that there other ways to keep Sydney's streets safe, rather then to punish an entire city.
"We don’t have to take an extreme measure to say everything has to shut at 12 because it’s not working – that’s when you work with the community…" Leong said, adding that more taxi ranks and police on the streets are just two ways alcohol-related violence can be curbed.
The House Of Riot panel was the first of many expected to take place in the near future — for more details, head to the organisation website.
