A new study out of BOCSAR heralds stark results in its assessment of which NSW liquor licensing policies delivered the largest reduction in violent crime in and around venues.
Between 2008 and 2018 the NSW Government implemented a range of liquor licensing reforms to reduce violence. The study estimates the impact of these policies on non-domestic assault.
The Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research (BOCSAR) reports liquor licensing reforms between 2008 and 2018 “contributed to a significant decline” in non-domestic assaults, both in Sydney and across NSW. How significant was the contribution is not detailed.
It was found that by the end of 2019 non-domestic assaults had dropped by an estimated 45 per cent in the Sydney CBD, 84 per cent in Kings Cross, and 19 per cent across the state of NSW. These estimates were achieved by comparing adjacent areas and Victoria with statistical data, to project the number of assaults that might have happened.
The report found the policies contributing most to the decline were restrictions on late night or 24-hour trading, such as the so-called ‘Lockout’ laws that were imposed on Sydney in 2014, and targeted enforcement that focusses on high-risk venues, such as the Three Strikes Scheme.
But importantly, the paper’s conclusion found that it was actually these things together that made a difference.
“Restricting trading hours can substantially reduce the risks associated with acute alcohol intoxication and can be an effective crime reduction strategy when combined with enforcement that targets the small number of premises that account for most of the harm.”
The report’s outcomes do not specify if the drop in (projected) assaults took into account the massive drop in patronage and revenue seen in the CBD and KX during the lockouts.
By way of even broader comparison, Britain’s ONS reports that England and Wales also saw rates of violence fall since 2008 – without any comparable trade restrictions.
While the ONS figures are the total of both domestic and non-domestic violence, they equate to a startling rate of one violent incident per 51 people in 2016, based on England and Wales’ collective population amounting to 68 million that year.
In that year the population of NSW was around 7.5 million. The BOCSAR data extrapolates to a rate of one incident per 276 people.
Many have criticised the policies for clamping down on misdoings at the expense of so much else.
“The days of lockouts and harsh restrictions – which actually pushed patrons out of Sydney – are long gone,” says AHA NSW Director of Liquor and Policing John Green.
“Thankfully, this Government has moved in a positive direction, with the statutory appointment of a 24-Hour Economy Commissioner and the introduction of new measures to recapture the vibrancy across Sydney destroyed by lockouts and restrictions.”