[quote]It took a single Facebook post to turn Mike Baird, leader of Australia's most populous state, from darling to pariah on social media.
The New South Wales premier's page was flooded with comments, almost all negative, after he mounted a defence of controversial "lock-out laws" that many say have killed off Sydney's night-time economy.
Mr Baird says the laws are reducing assaults, and that a number of small bars have opened since the laws were introduced.
But questions have also been raised about why the city's Star Casino and another planned casino are exempt - the Star falls just outside the zone - leading to the premier being mocked with the hashtag #casinomike.
An assault on assaults
Since February 2014, bars and clubs within parts of Sydney have been required to shut their doors to new patrons from 1.30 in the morning and stop serving drinks at 03:00, with severe penalties for bar owners who breach the conditions.
Sales of takeaway alcohol from hotels and liquor stores are banned state-wide after 10 PM. [/quote]
[quote]Mr Barrie's passionately denounced the impact of the laws and pushed a philosophy of personal responsibility that touched a nerve with many Sydneysiders.
"You've been tricked into thinking that you have done something wrong, in some way that you are genetically an idiot, or that somehow you have to feel responsible for a couple of random tragic, yet unrelated, events that occurred in the vague proximity of having fun," he wrote.
"Two young men that would be turning in their graves if they knew that their deaths had been hijacked to beat up some moral outrage over the sort of human tragedy that sells newspapers to put up a political smokescreen, push a prohibitionist evangelical agenda, sell a suburb to developers, and boost the coffers of a couple of casinos."[/quote]
[url]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35499522[/url]
The anti-alcohol and anti-nightlife hysteria sweeping through Australia in recent years is disgusting. Utter nanny-statism.
The essay in question that has started this discussion: [url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/would-last-person-sydney-please-turn-lights-out-matt-barrie]here.[/url]
[QUOTE=download;49716240]Utter nanny-statism.[/QUOTE]
Conservatives (liberals?) love nannystates. They just like to be irresponsible nannies and not actually take care of you, just ban the stuff you like.
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;49716255]Conservatives (liberals?) love nannystates. They just like to be irresponsible nannies and not actually take care of you, just ban the stuff you like.[/QUOTE]
They're like soccer moms, really.
Sorry, [B]FOOTBALL[/B] mums.
Seems incredibly similar to Scotland minus the whole no new peeps from 1:30. If Australia has had alcohol related issues as Scotland has, I don't really see the fuss. Can't say I enjoy the 10PM rule thougj
[QUOTE=LTJGPliskin;49716298]They're like soccer moms, really.
Sorry, [B]FOOTBALL[/B] mums.[/QUOTE]Nope, we're retarded too. We say soccer.
gonna be pretty furious if the QLD gets it way and does the whole 1am or whatever last drinks it wants to propose, the current lock out laws by 3am are fine i dont know why you'd want to change it
I see where he was coming from, assaults were prevalent and highly criticised by the media. The lockout laws do get results by effectively shutting down the city. Which seems highly counter productive.
It might have been better to say, fund the police and give them the resources they were requesting as opposed to launching that stupid multi-million dollar media campaign saying that punching people is for cowards.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCaAY4XLAFI[/media]
wow liquor stores closed after 10pm? that sounds annoying as hell
[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;49716694]wow liquor stores closed after 10pm? that sounds annoying as hell[/QUOTE]
not really, you buy all your shit before the night, of course if you forgot something its annoying as shit, but luckily there's a bottle o always near you over here
All the lockout laws have done is move the problem elsewhere. Assaults may be down in the city but they've risen in Newtown, which is turning into the new nightclub area, and at the casino.
The consequences of the laws are dodgy as hell too. On one hand property developers are absolutely cheering at the prime real estate coming into the market as clubs are forced to close. On the other, the casino is getting a massive influx of patrons (and $$$) because they have an exception. Smacks me of some inside dealings but we are talking about the NSW government, which has been notoriously corrupt for decades at this point.
This worked well in Newcastle; Sydney's lock-laws are based on the 'experiment' held in Newcastle.
Do violent crimes still occur: Yes.
Do violent crimes occur as frequently: Definitely not.
People are still outside past 10PM? Drinking myself to sleep is much more fun.
Fucking finally this has hit the news. Everyone I know hates these laws, they've absolutely killed the cross. Not to mention it hasn't fixed the 'problem', it's just moved to Newtown.
[QUOTE=Damoman;49716682]I see where he was coming from, assaults were prevalent and highly criticised by the media. The lockout laws do get results by effectively shutting down the city. Which seems highly counter productive.
It might have been better to say, fund the police and give them the resources they were requesting as opposed to launching that stupid multi-million dollar media campaign saying that punching people is for cowards.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCaAY4XLAFI[/media][/QUOTE]
The idea is to discourage antisocial behaviour from even being considered, rather than waiting for it to happen and deal with the consequences afterwards, or increase anti-police sentiment through having police officers everywhere at night.
[QUOTE=Bradyns;49717745]
Do violent crimes still occur: Yes.
Do violent crimes occur as frequently: Definitely not.[/QUOTE]
Any statistics to back this up? Perhap all of the crime and violence just moved?
[QUOTE]Owner Dave Evans said the laws caused a 60% drop in trade, forcing him to close his doors and put 170 staff out of work.[/QUOTE]
Dunno man, unemployment causes a ton of problems and keeping the casinos open seems to nullify your entire objective.
[QUOTE=Damoman;49716682]I see where he was coming from, assaults were prevalent and highly criticised by the media. The lockout laws do get results by effectively shutting down the city. Which seems highly counter productive.
It might have been better to say, fund the police and give them the resources they were requesting as opposed to launching that stupid multi-million dollar media campaign saying that punching people is for cowards.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCaAY4XLAFI[/media][/QUOTE]
Australian males have a pretty bad 'macho man' kind of mindset compared to a lot of other places. Having public figures who basically your every-man looks up to and respects saying, "you're a fucking coward if you punch someone in the back of the head," is a good way to slowly change that mindset by letting the notion pervade society that unprovoked attacks or catching somebody off guard doesn't make you a big man.
Don't underestimate the power of the media on the standards and expectations that we find society possessing.
[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;49716694]wow liquor stores closed after 10pm? that sounds annoying as hell[/QUOTE]
Ha, most of the liquor stores around me close at 7:00 PM. Some at 10:00, but no later.
11:00 AM to 7:00 PM is the window.
Can't wait to see a new brand of 1920's speakeasy culture in australia.
[QUOTE=sltungle;49718662]Australian males have a pretty bad 'macho man' kind of mindset compared to a lot of other places. Having public figures who basically your every-man looks up to and respects saying, "you're a fucking coward if you punch someone in the back of the head," is a good way to slowly change that mindset by letting the notion pervade society that unprovoked attacks or catching somebody off guard doesn't make you a big man.
Don't underestimate the power of the media on the standards and expectations that we find society possessing.[/QUOTE]
Is that really the mindset that these people operate under though? I find it hard to believe that these people are acting out aggressively because they think it will impress people. There's a lot of problems with Australian masculinity and how it conditions men to act - but I don't think these people have the capacity to rationalize their behaviour when they're experiencing that aggression. There's so much outrage and hysteria surrounding the "epidemic" already [I]because[/I] everyone acknowledges and agrees with the sentiment behind these campaigns. There's nothing shocking or groundbreaking about the message. All it serves to do is reason with people who possess neither the desire nor the capacity for reason (drunk & aggressive individuals), while vindicating the beliefs of the greater public.
But even if we assume that an ad campaign like this [I]can[/I] be effective - who is the campaign targeted at? The message is directed at the perpetrators, but it's so condescending and unempathetic that absolutely no one will self-identify with the "coward puncher". They should've showed the scene from the perspective of the attacker first (hiding the face of the victim, and not showing how the spillage occurred), [I]then[/I] followed it up with the revelation that it was all a harmless accident. I think that would've been far more effective in shocking people into realizing how susceptible they are to their own feelings of aggression and self-involvement. The ad immediately puts the target demographic on the defensive, which is hardly ever going to be effective.
I love how this has turned out to be a horrible PR disaster for Mike Baird. The fact that the Casino is an exception to the lock out laws is ridiculous, not to mention that you are still allowed to enter some venues after 1.30am to use the pokies only as long as alcohol isn't served after 1.30am.
Assaults in the CBD have been steadily declining since 2010. Assaults have been happening less too because of an 86% (iirc) drop in foot-traffic.
[IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/725f1x.jpg[/IMG]
This is Kings Cross now on a Friday night
[IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/iy2ys7.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;49716665]gonna be pretty furious if the QLD gets it way and does the whole 1am or whatever last drinks it wants to propose, the current lock out laws by 3am are fine i dont know why you'd want to change it[/QUOTE]
They're fucking stupid. It just forces drunk people to be stuck on the streets because no-establishment can take them, and no taxi will take them home.
The State Government in Victoria tried a lock out in Melbourne for a bit (2am), and they decided it didn't work. Thank goodness for that. QLD probably won't be retarded enough, but WA will probably follow suit because lol WA.
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