For my 18th birthday in 2013, what now retrospectively seems to mark the end of my partying freedom, I went clubbing with friends in Kings Cross.
We started at a Japanese restaurant (hello, sake!) and progressively jumped from pub to pub until around 3am, when we taxied to a club and danced away the early hours of the morning. I don’t recall even buying a drink at the club, it seemed the appeal for most people was the dance floor. No harm was done and, when we crawled into bed at 6am the next day, we genuinely felt invincible. We chatted excitedly about the nights to come, anticipating our 20’s ahead of us.
A few months later, I went abroad to spend a year in the United Kingdom and, when I returned to Sydney at the beginning of 2015, I was greeted by a dead city. It was as though I had said goodbye to a loving parent and returned to a stubborn, sullen, over-protective one.
The prospect of gaining entrance to any club or pub after 1am was greeted with "don’t bother", and "we won’t get let in anyway", followed by everybody getting into taxis and going home. Perhaps the effect of the lock-out laws wouldn’t have felt so potent, had I not been away during the time they were being debated. But, after stumbling out of clubs at dawn in Greece, Berlin and London for a year, I was incredibly disappointed.
Sure, statistics do show violence has declined in areas like Kings Cross since the lock-out laws were introduced. But this drop has nothing to do with people not going out after 1:30am, and everything to do with no one being out at all. There is no time-stamp on violence.
Here is a compilation of some footage from Sunday's 'Keep Sydney Open' rally in Sydney earlier this year. Post continues after video...
A city that was once known for it's heaving nightlife has been silenced in an attempt to change culture through legislation. But culture has nothing to do with legislation. Violence is a societal problem, and is not constrained to alcohol-fuelled areas such as Kings Cross. Implementing lock-out laws is treating a symptom, and is an easy way to avoid dealing with the real causes of substance abuse, domestic violence and binge drinking.
Wanting to party in the early hours of the morning does not make me a criminal. Neither does wanting to go for a drink after a concert ends at midnight, or wanting to hit the town after submitting an assignment by 11:59pm.
Premier of NSW Mike Baird doesn’t have to live with the consequences of his legislation (what's he doing at 12.05am?), I do. And that's how I know lock-out laws are punishing the wrong people.
Top Comments
I would have probably said the same thing when I was your age - but then again I never worked for the emergency services, police force or in health care so never saw the carnage and wasted resources every single weekend without fail, or had to anything to do with the consequences. Most of the accounts I've read of people who work in these areas are happy with the lock-out laws.
But we can't deny we do have a huge binge-drinking and violence problem here in Australia, which other countries you might compare us to don't have (Britain excluded). Most countries in Europe & America don't have this problem (they have their own problems), but this is ours.
If Kings cross were to reopen for business, how would you propose we deal with our chronic problems of binge drinking, violence & substance abuse? Do you have an alternative?