Scrapped lockout laws pave way for Sydney Olympic renaissance: Hemmes

Sydney’s nightlife tsar Justin Hemmes predicts the stars are aligning for a cultural rebirth not seen since the 2000 Olympics, though health experts are warning of darker consequences as the city's lockout laws lift.

The government this week announced it would scrap the controversial lockout laws from January 14, allowing drinks to be served until 3.30am everywhere except Kings Cross.

The move has been lauded by the city’s hoteliers and restaurateurs but public health advocates have accused the government of folding to liquor lobbyists.

Mr Hemmes, whose Merivale hospitality empire owns venues including George Street's Ivy and Establishment bars, said while the relaxation in liquor laws wouldn’t “flick a switch” on the city’s nightlife, it was an important start.

“With the opening of the light rail, the pedestrianisation of George Street, the relaxation of the lockout laws, I feel like I haven’t seen Sydney like this since pre-Olympics and I think it’s bloody exciting,” Mr Hemmes said.

“I feel magic is going to happen.”

Mr Hemmes originally backed the laws in 2014 following a spate of violence through the city and Kings Cross, but told a recent parliamentary inquiry that Sydney had turned into a “ghost town” and urged the government to wind back the laws.

Craig Bell, the co-owner of the Stonewall Hotel on Oxford Street, said while he was looking forward to an uplift in patronage, he believed more needed to be done to address how potentially violent people were dealt with on the streets.

He said the system of moving on drunk or disorderly people just pushed the problem onto another venue.

“My biggest concern is that we haven’t addressed how we manage high risk people who are on the streets,” Mr Bell said.

“Troublemakers being moved on, bounced around and not having a proper control measure applied to them and the risk that poses to innocent people walking the streets because I don’t think that’s been addressed.”

To address this, Mr Bell said bars and clubs along Oxford Street had developed their own system to deal with trouble-makers: a WhatsApp group.

Security will take a photo of a drunk or violent person at their venue and share it to the group, which can monitor in real-time where the individual is moving and prevent them from entering another bar.

“That’s the way we’ve worked together on Oxford Street,” Mr Bell said.

“This has given us a way to try and develop some intelligence on people for that night, in real time.”

Meanwhile in Kings Cross, where the liquor restrictions remain, small bars that aren’t affected by the laws are struggling.

Brandon Martignago, who owns Australian spirits and cocktail bar Dulcie’s, said the perception of the lockout’s impact had been almost as damaging as the laws themselves.

“Kings Cross is ripe to be turned into a small bar and restaurant area ... but the perception of the area is that Kings Cross is dead,” he said.

“You kind of sit there thinking what is this white elephant of an area that no one wants to touch.”

While the spotlight remains on the CBD and Kings Cross, NSW health professionals have warned the easing of liquor sale laws will impact domestic violence.

Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ trauma committee John Crozier said the move to increase bottle shops closing times by one hour (to midnight) was a “craven act”.

“The Berejiklian government has just added fuel to the fire of domestic violence,” he said.