According to new research conducted by the University of Sydney, Sydney’s lockout laws haven’t had any effect on how much violence is occurring in Sydney’s CBD. The preliminary research casts doubt over the impact the laws have actually had on curbing crime.
The researchers also found that the lockout laws may have indirectly had an impact on the decline in the number of non-domestic assaults in Kings Cross, but that is only because the number of overnight visitors to the area has almost halved.
This data is announced in the wake of NSW Premiere Gladys Berejiklian announcing a NSW Parliamentary review into the city’s lockout laws. This could mean that the government is considering winding back the laws, but we can only hope at this stage.
The 10-person, cross-party parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing the lockout laws will be doing so as part of a larger review of the city’s night-time economy. The committee will report the findings to parliament at the end of September.
In conversation with the Sydney Morning Herald, Roman Marchant from the University of Sydney’s Centre for Translational Data Science, talked about the effectiveness of the laws.
“With this analysis we’re showing that lockout laws don’t have an effect in the CBD, where actually the bulk of the crime is happening,” Dr Marchant said.
“So therefore it obviously allows you to have a think about are these laws actually effective.”
With only a small window of the lockout review left, hopefully we will see some change in the coming months.
