Last Drinks – Call Time on Street Crime

NSW has a drinking problem.

The number of alcohol-related assaults is growing by over 6 per cent every year. The cost of on our community is staggering.

Every Friday and Saturday night our entertainment precincts become a stage for a sad spectacle of boozed-up men and women fighting and causing trouble.

Police officers, doctors nurses and ambulance officers are at the front-line of this disgusting ritual – and often on the receiving end of the pointless violence.

They are abused, intimidated, threatened, assaulted and injured in their course of their duty – every single weekend.

They are attacked while trying to help the seriously injured, and while protecting the safety of others.

And they are forced to remove vomit, urine and excrement from people who are drunk or on drugs – and from themselves, their clothing and their equipment.

Enough is enough. It’s time to stop the culture of alcohol-fuelled violence in NSW.

Yesterday a new campaign was launched to tackle alcohol-related violence. The Last Drinks campaign is being supported by a coalition of concerned emergency service workers – through the Police Association of NSW, Australian Medical Association (NSW), Health Services Union and NSW Nurses’ Association.

Collectively, we’re demanding stronger restrictions on the sale of alcohol by licensed premises.

The current approach of appealing to people’s better instincts, and calling for personal responsibility, just isn’t working.

There is impressive evidence, however, that simply reducing the trading hours of licensed premises could achieve significant reductions in the number of alcohol-related assaults.

In March 2008, the NSW Liquor Administration Board imposed a number of restrictions on 14 licensed premises in Newcastle.  These included a 1am lockout, and bringing forward closing times from 5am to 3am.

The results from these measures were spectacular, with assaults after dark falling by 29 per cent – or 133 per year.

Extending these measures would have a major impact on alcohol-related violence across the state.

You can help make a difference.

Go the Last Drinks web site and sign up for regular updates on campaign news and activities.  And sign the Last Drinks petition to send a clear message to the major political parties.

We can’t stand by and let alcohol-related violence continue to spiral out of control.