NSW Deputy Premier Wants To Scrap The Lockout Laws, But There’s A Catch
Could the laws be gone by the end of the year?
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro is reportedly calling for Sydney’s controversial lockout laws to be scrapped by the end of the year.
9News is reporting that Barilaro is pushing for the 1.30am lockout to be abandoned throughout the CBD at the end of 2018, to coincide with the removal of the light rail construction barricades.
Unfortunately, the light rail deadline was once again pushed back just this morning, so pinning your hopes on an end to construction might be a bad idea.
The lockout would remain in place for Kings Cross. According to 9News, eight cabinet ministers in the NSW Government are in support of having the laws dramatically softened.
Predictably, the NSW Police Association has slammed the idea, instead calling for the laws to be introduced state-wide.
“The laws work, any politician that changes these simple laws will have blood on their hands,” Police Association President Tony King told 9NEWS.
Following the official review of the laws in late 2016 — which recommended pushing back the 1.30am lockout and 3am last drinks measures by half an hour each — the NSW Government began the process of relaxing the lockout laws in January 2017, inviting clubs who have a “proven history of supporting the arts and cultural sector” to apply for consideration.
A number of nightspots have been approved for a lockout extension — including Chinese Laundry, The World Bar, and initial beneficiaries The Palace Hotel, Observer Hotel and ArtHouse Hotel.
But that was too late to save some of Sydney’s most beloved venues. Since the lockout laws were rushed through parliament in February 2014, venues like Backroom, Soho, Hugo’s, The Flinders and Q-Bar have all shut their doors, Liverpool St’s revered Goodgod Small Club has been sold and rebranded as Plan B (now Hudson Ballroom) and the Keystone Group — which owns clubs like Cargo Bar, Bungalow 8 and The Sugarmill — has gone into receivership.