Safe Night Out Strategy (“SNOS”) Introduction

You will have noticed the Queensland Government’s recent television awareness campaign “We’re red carding anti-social behaviour”. This advertising campaign is part of the Queensland Government’s new initiatives to ensure that Queensland’s nightlife is safe for all.

These initiatives include changes to the criminal law in Queensland with the Queensland Parliament recently passing the Safe Night Out Legislation Amendment Bill. The new initiatives and laws are intended to combat the public’s growing unease with the prevalence of alcohol related violence in entertainment districts across the State.

The application of these new laws is not restricted to the South East corner and will impact on our local community as the proposed ‘Safe Night Precincts’ include:

• Airlie Beach;
• Mackay CBD;
• Rockhampton CBD; and
• Townsville CBD.

The Safe Night Out Strategy includes a number of initiatives which include:

• new education programs about the culture, attitudes and social expectations of alcohol consumption available to every Queensland student in year 7 to year 12.
• creating locally managed Safe Night Precincts throughout the state to ensure that key entertainment precincts are managed in the most effective
  way possible to safely deal with the high volumes of patrons at peak times.
• introducing tougher penalties for those who do the wrong thing – these tougher penalties include a new offence to cover ‘coward punch’ deaths with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and increased on-the-spot fines for public order-style offending that occurs in or within the vicinity of licensed premises.
• increasing powers for the Queensland Police Service to respond more effectively to violent and anti-social behavior.
• introducing a 12 month trial of a Sober Safe Centre in the Brisbane CBD to enable the police to detain a person for their own safety when they are intoxicated.
• More stringent liquor licensing requirements and increased compliance.
• strengthening the liquor licensing system to ensure that takes into account community safety concerns and focuses on promoting responsible service of alcohol practices.
• Changes to the legislation surrounding the misuse of drugs with the inclusion of steroid drugs.

The legislative changes will commence on a date to be fixed by proclamation which is expected to be announced later this year. Other initiatives however, will commence almost immediately such as increased high-visibility policing and the joint Queensland Police Service/Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation Taskforce which will enhance compliance with liquor licensing regulation.

Awareness campaigns about the strategy will also commence immediately. The strategy will be reviewed after 12 months of operation to determine how the initiatives are working and providing the opportunity to make any necessary adjustments. In this month’s newsletter we have taken a closer look at some of the proposed changes and initiatives and how they will affect Queenslanders.