Mike Baird’s Primed To Push Syd’s Shit Bottle-O Lockout Back To Midnight

Fresh from his backdown on the doggies, it looks like Mike Baird is gearing up to wind back another key government policy: New South Wales‘ much-maligned lockout laws.

The Daily Telegraph reports today that Baird is gearing up to recommend cabinet adopt the recommendations put forward by this year’s lockout law review, which was conducted by former High Court judge Ian Callinan. We said at the time that the review’s findings weren’t particularly heartening, but it was something.
As well as pushing the lockouts back to 2am from 1:30am, sources suggest Baird might go a step further than the review on takeaway alcohol sales. Curently, bottle shops have to close at 10pm, but it is expected that Minister Troy Grant will recommend this be pushed back to midnight. That’s further back than the report’s suggested 11pm closure.
Baird appeared on Fitzy & Wippa this morning to discuss these revelations. He says there will be a decision “by the end of the year”, though the Tele reckons it’s coming as soon as tomorrow:
We have obviously had to calendar a review. There is no real update in a sense the cabinet and the government is considering that. There is no announcement to make straight away we need to take our time to consider that and obviously we think we have done an excellent job as discussed before there’s many different views on this we want to consider them in details  before we address?? We have listened to those and there are two sides to the debate as we have gone through. We have listened to both sides. We have now got the report and we can consider that and obviously respond when we have finished that deliberation.

After Fitzy asked why the timeframe is so extended compared to the relatively quick greyhound backdown, Baird said its because there are so many stakeholders:

It won’t be long Fitzy. Before the end of the year there will be decisions on this.  There will be. It is important though there are so many stakeholders in this. There has been a massive reduction is violence, there are also concerns in terms of businesses, there are concerns in terms of what it has done to the live music industry, obviously Ian Callinan, there are some strong recommendations in relations to that. We are coming to the end of that process and obviously some people are frustrated it has been considered all sides are heard.

Let’s see how this pans out. Until then, check out how passionate Sydney got at last weekend’s Keep Sydney Open rally and get yourself geed up.

Source: Daily Telegraph.
Photo: The Simpsons.

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