Controversial Queensland laws forcing pubs and nightclubs to call last drinks at 3am contributed to a significant drop in early morning assaults and had no adverse effect on hospitality businesses, a review of the measures has found.
The suite of policies, first passed in 2016 after the death of 18-year-old Cole Miller in a one-punch attack, includes rules forcing licensed venues to not serve alcohol after 3am and mandatory use of ID scanners in nightclub precincts. Plans to also introduce a 1am lockout at late-trading venues were dropped in early 2017 after opposition from licensees.
On Wednesday the state government released an independent review of the measures, which were championed by former Labor minister Anthony Lynham, who retired from parliament in 2020 to resume his career as a maxillofacial surgeon.
The review looked at data from 2016 to 2019 and showed a 49% drop in assaults between 3am and 6am on Friday and Saturday nights; including a 52% drop in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley precinct.
It also found that the measures, which were controversial at the time, had not had an adverse impact on tourism businesses, or shifted alcohol-fuelled violence to other areas.
The evaluation made a series of recommendations, of which the government said it would support or partially support 22, and not support 16. Recommendations not supported include calls to close all venues at 3.30am; a two-year moratorium on new liquor licences; and changes to the liquor act that would place a burden of responsibility on venue staff to ensure patrons were not intoxicated.
The government’s response to the review acknowledged the hardship caused to licensed venues by Covid lockdowns and other restrictions, and said it had sought to “strike a balance between minimising alcohol-related harm and the need to reduce regulatory burden and financial constraints on the hospitality and tourism sector”.
The government also rejected a recommendation to impose trading hours restrictions on casinos; and calls for the introduction of an alcohol floor-price, similar to the one introduced in the Northern Territory.
The Queensland attorney general, Shannon Fentiman, said the state had accepted recommendations to distribute lists of banned patrons to all venues that operate after midnight, and to review alcohol and drug safety education in schools.
“We know that it only takes a single, senseless punch to claim a life, and with late-night venues once again packed after the pandemic, we need to be reminded of this more than ever,” Fentiman said.
“We are pleased to have been able to strike a balance between reducing alcohol-related harm and the need to ease the regulatory burden on hospitality and tourism businesses.”
Earlier research found ambulance callouts dropped by 26% in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley and 21% in Surfers Paradise after the laws were enacted.
