Key Developments.
In 2014, Campbell Newman introduced the Safe Night Out strategy. The strategy aims to reduce alcohol-related violence and injury by reinforcing responsible service of alcohol legislation, introducing tougher penalties for violent behaviour and creating safe and supportive environments in the entertainment precincts (Queensland Government, 2014). However, this new legislation does not include the early closing of bars and clubs. This theory was trialled within Australia in 2008. Clubs and pubs in the CBD of Newcastle were forced to close at 3:30am instead of the regular 5am. A lockout was established at 1:30am. Licensees could not serve shots after 10pm and had to cease any sale of alcohol by 3am. Venues also had to have a dedicated Responsible Service of Alcohol Officer from 10pm till closing time. The results were impressive. Recorded assaults within the CBD fell from 99 to 68 within the first three-month period from when the regulations were implemented. It is estimated that these new regulations within Newcastle has prevented between 3000 and 4000 assaults in the six years since the new regulations have been implemented. There is an average of twenty-two per cent decrease in assaults per hour of restriction (Kypri, McElduff & Miller, 2014). A similar study was conducted in Norway throughout eighteen cities by Rossow & Norström (2012). Their studies showed that for each hour that the closing time was extended, violent assaults significantly increased by 4.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per quarter. This is a 16% increase in violence for every hour closing time is extended by. .
Doctors within the public health system are immensely supportive of these new laws in Newcastle, as they have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of alcohol-related trauma victims coming into the ED. In an article by Crealy (2015), neurosurgeon Mark Winder said that on weekends the ED used to be over-run.
