Even Mike Baird’s Own NSW Young Liberals Don’t Support The Sydney Lockout Laws

Steadily increasing opposition to the Sydney lockout laws has been causing headaches for the NSW government over the past few weeks. Premier Mike Baird’s reputation abruptly went from Cool Dad to #CasinoMike when he defended the lockouts on Facebook, and the Keep Sydney Open movement has capitalised on the shift in public mood by planning a rally in the CBD on Sunday.

The backlash has been so dramatic that even Baird’s colleagues in the Liberal Party have begun openly criticising the policy. The Daily Telegraph reports this morning that the NSW Young Liberals, the youth branch of the party Baird runs, have publicly declared their opposition to the lockouts and called on the government to repeal them.

“A hallmark of our beliefs is individual freedom and responsibility and the lockout laws give us neither,” NSW Young Liberals President Alex Dore told the Telegraph. “We don’t accept that you can fix every social ill with legislation on law-abiding people. It’s not what the party or the Young Liberals believe in.”

Baird is also facing pressure from higher-ranking members of the party. On Q&A last night, newly-minted Trade and Investment Minister Steven Ciobo said the laws have “gone too far”, and outlined his belief that adults in a free society should be able to make their own mistakes without the government imposing sanctions on the rest of society.

“[Premier] Baird’s said ‘ well assaults are down 44 percent’, but how does that sit with the way in which patronage is down? I heard someone quip ‘well, there were zero assaults in the Simpson Desert too,'” Ciobo said.

“I personally think: look, we’re adults. We live in a free society. If people do the wrong thing, and you want to do everything you can to try to prevent that, including education around coward’s punches and all those things, but ultimately you can’t stop someone from making a stupid choice.”

Lockout Laws go too far, says @SteveCiobo. Young men have high risk of assault but it’s a small percentage #QandA https://t.co/yLRGgjX13T

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) February 15, 2016

Ciobo, a Queenslander, has an interest in the issue because the Queensland Labor state government is currently pushing hard to introduce lockout laws of its own. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is urging members of the Queensland Parliamentary crossbench to vote for Labor’s proposal to impose a 2am last-drinks rule across the state, with exceptions for certain venues in busy precincts and — surprise — casinos.

The fate of the bill currently rests with a small number of independent and minor-party state MPs, and will likely come down to which way Queensland Parliament’s two Katter Party members decide to vote. Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg has said his LNP will vote against the legislation, and has called for “a much more holistic approach around drugs, what’s happening in the culture within our community and responsibility of individuals”.

While NSW and Queensland are squabbling over lockout laws, it doesn’t appear Victorians have anything to worry about on that score. Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews was pretty emphatic on that point last night.