QLD:Alcohol-fuelled violence crackdown

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2010
QLD:Alcohol-fuelled violence crackdown

BRISBANE, Aug 29 AAP - Extra cops, bans on troublemakers and designated safe drinking
zones will spearhead a Queensland government crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence.

Premier Anna Bligh has announced three `Drink Safe Precincts' will be set up - in Brisbane's
Fortitude Valley, the Gold Coast and Townsville - from December 2010.

Under the $4.2 million plan, police numbers in those precincts will be boosted by 39
per cent and troublemakers will be banned from those areas.

Police numbers will increase during peak times and there will be better supervised
taxi zones, Ms Bligh said.

"Drink Safe Precincts would be run like major sporting events with coordinated policing,
security and support services provided to deliver a safe environment for patrons," she
said in a statement.

"We will also legislate for new powers to ban people committing alcohol-related violence
from the areas and it will become mandatory for pubs and clubs to offer free drinking
water to patrons.

"The new precincts will have special safe zones where people can go if they have had
too much to drink, are experiencing harassment, violence or simply need a safe place to
clear their heads.

"These will be staffed by experienced community workers and volunteers."

The Bligh government has rejected recommendations to change lockout times or wind back
trading hours.

"The existing lockout laws will stay in place to provide certainty to both licensees
and patrons and also give the new measures a chance to work," Ms Bligh said.

Opposition leader John Paul Langbroek said the proposed new measures didn't go far enough.

"It doesn't target hot spots right across the state," he said.

"There is trouble at nightclub areas all over Queensland.

"What about Cairns, the Whitsundays, Mackay? This plan ignores those areas."

AAP lpm/jl

KEYWORD: BOOZE

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.