Small measures a giant leap away from booze-fuelled violence
Scott Weber
The Daily Telegraph
December 16, 2013
THE number of alcohol-related violence incidents skyrockets over summer,putting the community and our emergency service workers at increased risk. It's an unfortunate fact that the chances of us waking up to news of another alcohol-related death or life-altering injury over the coming months are disturbingly high.
Just this weekend we've seen many serious assaults. One left a man in a coma.
The NSW government knows how great the risks are and recently announced a few measures aimed at curbing the number of assaults on our streets. Trouble is, they don't go far enough and tend to focus more on mopping up the mess than stopping it at the source.
While any measure that helps reduce alcohol-fuelled violence is a step in the right direction, we are past the point of little steps - we need a giant leap in the right direction if we're to seriously combat the issue. And the giant leap we need is the Newcastle measures - the suite of measures that has resulted in a 37 per cent decrease in late night assaults and a 26 per cent decrease in emergency department admissions in the area.
The Newcastle measures include reduced trading hours, lockouts and restrictions on the sale of high alcohol-content drinks. Modest, evidence-based measures that are proven to work.
So solid is the evidence that licenced venues in Tamworth recently voluntarily introduced similar measures to deal with the town's burgeoning alcohol problem.
Some in the alcohol industry claim that the Newcastle measures don't work. They're telling anyone who will listen that NSW doesn't have an alcohol problem at all - things are on the mend and we needn't worry ourselves about it.
Try telling the families of the victims of alcohol-fuelled violence that we don't have a problem, or telling the doctors, nurses, paramedics and police who spend the vast majority of their weekends dealing with victims of boozed-up thugs that everything is fine.
It's true, as the alcohol industry keeps telling us, that the overall number of assaults in NSW has fallen slightly over the past years. It's an exciting trend and police are working to ensure the downward spiral continues. But it's far from good enough.
NSW does have an alcohol problem and we desperately need decision-makers with enough gumption to do something about it.
Scott Weber is Last Drinks coalition spokesman and president of the Police Association of NSW.
Scott COME CLEAN Your first responsibility is to ensure the collection of union dues from members of the NSW Poilce Force for the purpose of financing the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party.
You and your "association" aka.one of the many fund raising arms of the ACTU, specifically imposed upon the staff of the various employment opportunities, for the funding of the ALP,were silent for 16 years when the Political Party that your 'Association" finances with your members Union Fees, aka. "lisence to work and feed yourself and family",is donated to the Australian Labor Party, irrespective of who the victims of the NSW Police Associations right to garneshee their hard earned wages votes for.
Scott come clean!!!! Your first and last responsibility is to ensure that the ideology of YOUR "associations" Political Party,the Socialist Australian Labor Green Loon Co Party is what inculcates Law and Order in NSW via the NSW Police Force via the mantra of whats good for "Da Rank and File" Da Memba's.
Fuck You sKOt
u Kan know LON GA PraTend TA b a Firrrrr persin whilst collecting Mon e to pay Da Arse on est fro mmmmmm da wur kas Wag es
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