By Louise Crealy
Doctors are warning against the New South Wales Government relaxing its lockout laws, citing a huge reduction in drug and alcohol-related injuries.
Clinicians and physicians at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital said the past 12 months had been their best in a long time, with less extreme drug and alcohol-related injuries than they had seen in the past.
Not only do they think the Government’s lockout laws led the change, but some would also like to see the scope widened to include other problem areas.
Neurosurgeon Mark Winder said the hospital’s emergency room was once over-run every weekend.
“A lot of head injuries, a lot of drug and alcohol-induced injuries which was associated with violence … varying from minor grazes to concussions to major injuries – terrible injuries – with regards to haemorrhages which required urgent surgical intervention,” Dr Winder said.
But he said the situation was improving, linking the noticeable decrease in the number of alcohol-related injuries to the lockout laws.
“In the last years gone by … we would be seeing at least three to four per week when we’re on call. Now, I would say 20 per cent of that is sort of what we’re seeing.
“We’d be lucky to see even one major injury within the week coming in, based on the lockout rule.”
Dr Winder operated on Daniel Christie, the 18-year-old killed in Kings Cross on New Year’s Eve in 2013 by a one-punch blow to the head.
He said the death was crushing for everyone involved.
“It’s very hard to see … a young person and certainly their family being so affected by senseless violence,” he said.
The laws require 1:30am lockouts and 3:00am last drinks across a designated Sydney CBD entertainment precinct, including part of Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, The Rocks and Kings Cross.
St Vincent’s Health Australia group chief executive Toby Hall said the success of the laws could not be underestimated.
“It’s absolutely clear from what we are seeing since the lockout was put in place, there’s been a significant reduction in the level of severe trauma and particularly a reduction in the number of people visiting very early in the morning through to mid-morning, through trauma-based instances,” Mr Hall said.
“So it’s a clear correlation once the law was bought in and things changed very quickly and that’s been maintained today.
“It’s actually wonderful to see that in Kings Cross and not seeing the traumatic impact on people’s lives that we’ve seen in the past.”
Mr Hall praised the Government’s swift action in implementing the laws and said it would be a very rash move to relax the laws in the future, regardless of pressure from business owners, the Australian Hotels Association and alcohol retailers.
“I think we need to see consistency in government policy and particularly follow through the evidence which starts to come through early next year from the Bureau of Statistics which will show us actual facts about the reduction of crime in the area, the reduction of dramatic injury,” he said.
“So we’d say to the Government, ‘let’s get the evidence, let’s look at it on a factual basis’, but certainly at the moment it would be very, very naive to make any changes to what is quite clearly a successful law.”