Roving police patrols at night targeting violent hotspots was a great idea but Premier John Brumby ^[1]’s 2AM lockout is just ridiculous. Last week, Brumby announced a trial starting on June 3, that imposes a 2AM lockout in areas in and around Melbourne. Some areas affected include Fitzroy (i.e. Brunswick St.), the CBD, St. Kilda, and Prahran. Once you step out of a venue and its after 2AM, you will not be allowed back in. This is supposed to curb increasing violence in Melbourne. Licencees who breach this lockout will be face fines up to $6800. The only exception to the ban unsurprisingly is the government revenue maker, Crown Casino.

• Most of the late night violence has been occurring outside venues on the streets. By locking out patrons, this will just be putting more people onto the streets. More people means more fights.
• Want to go out for a smoke? Sorry, can’t come back in. Phone call? Nope. Designated driver? No way. Sorry, I lost my girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/sister etc. Sorry, can’t come in.
• First Floor ^[2], Bubble ^[3], and The Exford ^[4] are three places that thrive in the late night. Take First Floor (Brunswick St., Fitzroy) as an example. It is open until the early hours of the morning but it only starts to get packed when most of the bars close on Brunswick Street. The 2AM lockout is thus removing late night licences.
• The city of Yarra consists of a large area including Collingwood, Fitzroy, and Richmond. Public drinking IS allowed. Yes, you heard that right. What do you think people will be doing on the street when they cannot get into a venue? Get ready for parks and street corners to be the new hot venue of choice.

You really have to wonder how our Victorian government comes to conclusions without any notice and without consulting with venues, patrons or generally reading any history on the issue. Only a couple of years ago, England repealed it’s 11PM closing law ^[5] in order to STOP violence. It’s not just the lockout, only yesterday , the Brumby government announced that it was making certain roads in an around Melbourne, clearways during peak hour ^[6] WITHOUT even consulting councils. I know the Beijing Olympics are coming up but I was pretty sure we are not living in a dictatorship government. I highly suspect that after the three month trial of this lockout, the government will come out with some skewed figures showing success and proposing that the lockout be extended permanently.

Have your say! Join the protest May 30th at Parliament House (5PM-7PM and 11PM-Midnight). Please don’t show up drunk or being an idiot.

Links:

2AM Lockout Website ^[7] (an “impartial” site created by those great guys from Melbournepubs.coms ^[8] )

Melbourne Locked Out ^[9] (The official protest site)

Facebook Group ^[10]

Facebook Event ^[11]

Herald Sun: Protestors fight for their right to Party ^[12]