Lockout Laws Aren’t Making Sydney Safer, New Analysis Finds

A new analysis of Sydney’s controversial lockout laws has taken place, and the results challenge previous conclusions drawn by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) which suggested the laws are actually effective.

As the ABC reports, the analysis was undertaken by two economists and a mathematics post-doc for the Keep Sydney Open (KSO) campaign, and used publicly available data in its research.

In comparison to BOSCAR’s analysis, the KSO study shows that the number of assaults in Sydney had been decreasing for years since its peak in 2008. So, according to KSO, the rate of violence was already on the way down before the laws were introduced.

The new analysis also found that Kings Cross foot traffic has decreased more significantly than the amount of alcohol-related assaults since the lockout laws. So, this means that the amount of assaults per punter has actually increased.

Violence has also been forced out to areas outside of the lockout zones, with the Star Casino in Pyrmont now being a particularly problematic area. The KSO study also found that non-domestic assaults at the Star Casino have risen by 30 per cent, and the amount of alcohol-fuelled violence has actually doubled.

The number of alcohol-fuelled assaults in the rest of New South Wales however has remained stable, but has risen in Sydney in areas that exist outside of the lockout zones.

The KSO analysis appears to have been rejected by High Court Judge The Hon Ian Callinan QC, who handed down his review into Sydney’s lockout laws in September. Callinan agreed that BOSCAR’s results of a decrease in violence after the implementation of lockout laws was in fact “consistent with those for admissions to the emergency department at St Vincent’s and with the day-to-day experience of police, ambulance and other health workers”.

Keep Sydney Open is hosting another anti-lockouts rally this weekend, on Sunday at 12pm in Belmore Park. At the last KSO rally, around 15,000 people peacefully marched in protest against the lockout laws.

Gallery: The Funniest Anti-Lockout Banners From The ‘Keep Sydney Open’ Rally (21.02.16)

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