Doesn't shutting down the bar/pub at a certain time actually encourage binge drinking, as those binge drinkers will push themselves to drink more while they can? And then you are left with all these binge drinkers out on the street all at the same time...I don't like the sound of this.

James, your post is incredibly contradictory. You oppose the lockout and riot police "waiting around the corner to pounce" yet you call for better police presence? The solution is not more police. The solution is to end the lockout by calling a mass demonstration and a picketing of venues. The racist & reactionary police are an arm of the state that is imposing this lockout law yet you see them somehow as part of the solution!

This is not going to be won by conciliation with the police or even pursuing the matter in parliament or the courts, it will be only through a strong militant campaign involving students and workers that these laws can be defeated.

Do you want people to die, or would you prefer to go home a few hours early?

This is an adequately reasoned response to your hilarious website.

Could you please explain to me what the better solution is? I'm sure it's not more police presence and longer trade hours?

Can you please explain why you've done this site?

I'm asking because I know 2 friends that have had glasses thrown on their heads in Manly before the 2am lockout existed, and there were looser licensing laws.

I'm asking because I suffered a fractured skull and rib cage in Manly one night when I was beaten senseless by a group of 7 thugs. This is before tighter liquor laws.

I'm asking also because I have lost no less than 13 friends to drink driving. This is usually in an area where they are a lot looser with their licensing laws, as the pubs were good mates with the cops. 13 friends.

I'm only 28 and have had to carry no less than 13 coffins.

Can you also find a better solution than just 'more police' for the amount of times my mates and I have been reluctantly caught in brawls, started by young binge drinkers who can't get in to the pubs when we're trying to get something to eat at McDonalds on the way home?

The time I fractured my wrist trying to stop a guy putting a chair through a window?

Please tell me what the solution is because I don't want to have to ever go through any this again.

Otherwise get off your high horse. I'm all for civil liberties, but when 90% of Sydneysiders who go out can't handle their alcohol and drink themselves to a point they don't even know they're still drinking, they need to be told to go home.

It seems a little hard to swallow the hoteliers sudden concern for wider society and their civil liberties. They are business people and their only concern is about reduced revenue. The usual behavior of the pubs is to happily take cash from every yahoo who wants to get blotto then eject them into the street where they are someone elses problem. If youre into fights then set yourself up in a deckchair in front of the Coogee Bay Hotel and watch the fun unfold. You could even set a timer and see how long it takes for someone to think youre fair game and involve you
If you dont like the solution then come up with a better one because youre certainly part of the problem.

hey Geoff sorry for your experiences but i didn't know the venue was behind the wheel and outside McDonalds... the solution is education, we have a world of knowledge, not just overseas and interstate experiences but we also know the most likely types of people, the most at risk areas and at what times it is most likely to occur , it is partly about putting the resources into the right areas at the right times and not blaming a venue for the actions of the irresponsilbe individuals. Marky Mark you need to do some research yourself and see what the Hotels and Clubs have done for the broader community including their submissions to help the education issues. The problem is the data being used is corrupt and selective and just headline grabbing we need an independant educated response to the issues of society and not just blame a venue.

I suggest we get a group of 20 idiots, get them smashed and then camp them out the front of a publican's house for 30 mins and see how they like it. I live 3 streets from a pub and every bloody weekedn have to put up with sub-human species smashing glasses and yelling at the top of their voice every profanity their simple minds can think up. I love a beer or three, but some people can't seem to handle their grog. Also there has been a notable increase in young woman becoming more agressive and abusive over the past 5-6 years in Sydney, all to do with more and more alcohol (and their brains being fried by talking too much on their mobiles).

I agree with everyone except Rhyece O'Neill, you do not have a clue, PUBS are there to make money, they will push as many beers across the bar as they can, and when not if but when you get involved in a fight or get glassed, they will not help you they will throw you out and if they know the offender they will help him escape.
Here is a test, go to a pub get pissed, when you are asked to leave tell the security that you are not leaving as you are protesting against the new laws and want to make a stand for the pubs of NSW. You will either be dragged by your hair and thrown, they will call the cops and the cops will drag you by your hair and throw you out with a $550 ticket in your pocket, go on I dare you to try it!!!!

80% of statistics are made up Geoff.....

Don't believe this alcohol industry PR bullshit.
The pubs in question bought this on themselves. There are still thousands of responsible liquor outlets that are not subject to these laws where you can go and enjoy a drink out of a glass at any time you like.
If the greedy publicans decided to obey their obligations under the liquor act and put the safety of their patrons first, these laws would have never been imposed.

Does anyone else see the sad irony in a campaign that supposedly argues against people being just massed together (and collectively punished), and that is based on the rights of the individual, but is being expressed through these mass-produced cardboard cut-outs that dictate what peoples opinion should be?

Tony, you say that we know the places most at risk, we know what times violence is likely to occur. Well, yes, that is why these venues have been hit with these selective laws.

An after hours club that i have been going to for over five years has somehow managed to get itself on this list. The place doesnt open till midnight and can't let anyone in after 2. I have never seen a fight there, infact the only reason this place is being targetted is because it is owned by the same people as a street level bar which is a little less sedate in its clientele.

Nathaniel the sad irony is more the fact that public servants like you and John Stamos (a pseudonym for some desk-jockey who wishes he was cool like Uncle Jesse) are being paid from my tax dollars to sit at a desk and restrict the rights of civilians like me by trying to add controversy to a debate that doesn't affect you anyway because you don't go out at night anyway.

Nathaniel, i do see the irony as you should also in your own comments , selective laws ...if all venues had the same laws then the irony in your own comments would disappear, the problem is not a venue it is the PEOPLE. It has taken the release of the data under the Freedom of Information Act (as the laws supporters would not provided it for a fair and just review) to show that the selection process for the venues has been done so on based on incorrect and therefore corrupt data. It is a people problem not a venue, all of the venues on licence and off licence , homes , restuarants , sporting venues need to be involved and not just attack "one place" when "next door" is open for business doing the same or even worse as the one so listed.

I can't help but laugh when people say that alcohol is not the problem, that it is people who are the problem (this is the same kind of argument that the gun nuts in the USA put up anytime the Whitehouse tries to take their machine guns).

I have lived behind both a Cafe and a Pub. Both are venues where people meet and socialise on a frequent basis. The only difference between the two is that one (the pub) serves alcohol and the other (the café) doesn’t.
You wouldn't know that the cafe was in operation if it was not for the beautiful smell of roasted coffee beans that occasionally drifted my way, the closest thing that ever resembled violence was when someone complained about their coffee.
The pub on the other hand, everyone knew was in operation! The screaming, the sound of fights and yelling in the car park on an almost nightly basis as well as the smell of urine and vomit in the morning. Add to this the broken glass that was always present on a Sunday morning in the area surrounding the pub.. and this was one of the more conservative pubs in Sydney!!

I had contacted the pub on a number of occasions to try and keep the peace in the neighbourhood. I wasn’t asking for much, just a little reduction in the high levels of intoxicated patrons causing great disturbance. Yet despite plenty of lip service from management little happened. The arrogance of many pub operators is amazing, with the pinnacle being in my opinion that of the Coogee and City CBD Publicans. No one wants prohibition, no one wants people’s freedoms to be restricted, all that was ever asked for was for publicans to treat the community with the same respect that the community has shown them... Nothing more, nothing less.

I have had a careful look at these new laws, and considering the blatant disregard these pub operators have shown for the law for many years, I would argue that they don't go far enough.
The people who have said that this is only the beginning of the governments plan to reduce freedom is nothing but a joke. The government make huge profit off alcohol sales and have always been reluctant to take action against anything that may see a reduce in these sales. However, the government could no longer ignore the emergency service workers and members of the general public who where sick of the trauma that they had to deal with each weekend from pubs who kept selling grog to drunks and have reluctantly had to face up to reality and take action.

Why anyone would want to show support for these venues (and this AHA funded website), whose aim is to get as much money out of you as possible with no regards to your well being is beyond me.

Pub mamnagement and pub owners may be arrogant and only concerned about profit. But that shouldn't let our civil liberties be eroded because of some people's action. Perhaps pubs (and clubs fopr that matter) do need to change the door man security culture to be more concillatory and have better training in dealing with patrons. Perhaps the pubs should, like large music festivals and events, have 'carers' inside venues that go round talking to patrons about their alcohol intact. Perhaps there should be more Police visibility to deter anti-social behaviour. I've been beaten up in the Surry Hills area precisely because the aggressors knew that Police were never around the area. They were junkies rather than alcoholic intoxicated variety, but the principle is the same. The people that want to 'glass' somebody are a special type, so why punish everyone because of a few? Plastic glasses are a good idea a lot of the time but not when you want to have a cocktail. Rather than banning, how about a little creative thought to what needs to be done?

I want to live in a decent and safe society and one only has to see the anti social behaviour of many patrons on there way home trashing public and private property from the extended trading hour venues.It is not a minority out at that hour so effected by alcohol sweeping misery/violence on others

Stephen Dawson, I'm not sure why you assume I don't go out out night. Nor why you think the fact that I've been studying nightlife issues for 5 years as part of my work as an academic somehow means I am less informed.

Tony, I agree with you entirely that its a people (culture) problem as I have posted elsewhere on this site.
Still, it cannot be refuted that certain venues attract certain types of people. Certain aspects of those venues (vertical drinking for example) are designed specifically to increase the speed of drinking. The violence does occur disproportionally in local areas in and around venues that consistently display loose regard for RSA. It is disengenuous to suggest otherwise.
I agree also that people are affected unfairly by these laws, however, the government can only influence the situation on the ground by means of the levers available.
As also posted elsewhere, the 10 minute timeout has immediately provoked some lateral thinking from venues about strategies they might implement. They are thinking these through only as bargaining chips to negotiate for their 10 minutes of profit back. It's the hip-pocket nerve. I agree with John that we just might see some creativity in repsonse.
And seriously, if the prospect of waiting a few minutes for your next drink is really threatening for you, then yes, you should have a spot of introspection regarding your drinking. Have a glass of water.

Bring it on. Say hello to bootleg booze and "private house parties" in prime locations.

How the government ever thinks they will stop us from drinking when we want to is beyond me. Why are we still electing these idiots? Can the baby boomers just let go and move into retirement please?