Qld Government Confirms It Will Scrap 1am Lockouts After Sustained Pressure

Queensland's nighttime economy has dodged the long-feared onset of 1am lockouts after the State Cabinet decided to revise the restrictive measures in place as part of Labor's Tackling Alcohol-fuelled Violence initiative.

Although the decision has been treated as a done deal for the past several days, the official call was only made at this afternoon's Cabinet session, at which it was decreed that the government's widely panned 1am lockout policy — as championed by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath and Labor minister Dr Anthony Lynham — would be nixed.

However, venue operators will have to contend with fewer exemptions to the state's service cessation laws — down to six a year, from 12 — as well as greater restrictions on their use, as a result of "systematic and widespread use of extended trading permits", according to research from Deakin University.

Additionally, the revised policy will see the implementation of linked ID scanners in Safe Night Precincts from 1 July this year, as well as the enforcement of any bans arising from their use.

Cabinet's Decision

number of one-off permits to allow trading until 5am would be cut from 12 to six in SNPs;
use would be limited “special events” to be defined by a criteria approved by the Government, rather than 5am trading being “business as usual”;
State-wide end of alcohol service at 2am unless the venue is in a Safe Night Precinct (SNP);
3am last drinks in Safe Night Precincts;
ban on the sale of rapid intoxication, high alcohol-content drinks after midnight; and
enforce ID scanners from 1 July 2017 in SNP and enforce banning orders.

"There has not been a single weekend night where all venues in the Fortitude Valley have ceased service of alcohol at 3am," explained the research, which was included in Cabinet's statement and conducted by the university's Institute For Social Science Research over the first six months of the government's extensive anti-alcohol-fuelled violence initiatives.

"[There has also been a] lack of notable change in trends since the introduction of the Policy, [which] also suggests the provision of extended trading permits (allowing the sale of alcohol until 5am) has compromised the impact of the Policy," it continued.

According to the Deakin researchers, a 1am lockout "is not likely to significantly change current trends (except for pre-drinking)", while "measures used to reduce harm earlier in the night such as ID scanners, and banning orders for repeat offenders, continue to be warranted".

There will be no change to the cessation laws themselves, which were introduced in July last year and require Queensland venues to stop service of rapid-consumption or high-alcohol beverages (shots, cocktails) at midnight, with a total service ban after 2am.

Venues within allocated entertainment precincts, one of which is Fortitude Valley, are allowed to serve until 3am. It was on these venues that the 1am lockout was to be introduced; however, Palaszczuk and her supporters now appear more focused on maintaining reduced service hours as a primary tool against alcohol-fuelled violence.

"All the evidence in Australia and around the world suggests the most effective measure to reduce alcohol-fuelled violence is to reduce the number of hours that alcohol is served after midnight," Palaszczuk said in a statement.

"It's disappointing the systematic use of these [exemption] permits has clouded the impact of our new laws; some venues have been using the extended 5am trading as business-as-usual.

"We won't allow that to continue, and will make this reduced number of permits available only for genuinely special events."

Qld Government Confirms It Will Scrap 1am Lockouts After Sustained Pressure

Cabinet's Decision

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