THE RUN DOWN - JULY 1 LEGISLATION CHANGES

Photo Credit: Brodie Hope Photography

Earlier this year the Queensland parliament voted on a Tackling Alcohol Violence Amendment bill. This bill had changes to the liquor act with two major changes being implemented on July 1 2016. To see the full bill go to https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/ACTS/2016/16AC004.pdf  

There has been a lot of public debate regarding these new laws and essentially they are in three parts, first a 12am ban on 'rapid consumption' drinks, a 3 am cessation of service and a 1am lockout in 3 am safe night precincts. It should be noted that the 1 am lockout will not take effect until February 2017.

At the moment Airlie Beach is deemed to be a 3am Safe Night precinct and is managed by the Safe Night Out Airlie Beach CBD Precinct inc. Over the next 6 months Safe Night Out Airlie Beach will be asked to complete a report for government to determine whether Airlie Beach will remain classified as a 3am Safe Night Precinct.

So what do the July 1 changes mean? Well firstly any venue inside a 3am Safe Night Precinct will have to cease service of alcohol at 3am with a 30 minute 'grace period' for patrons to finish their drinks. This means no more drinks can bee served or supplied after 3am. This essentially winds back the night 2 hours in Airlie Beach. If you are in a venue outside of a precinct then this cut off time is 2am, and when the lockout laws come into play they will not have one applied.

There are currently 15 Safe Night Precincts across the state your can find at more at this link. https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industry/liquor-gaming/safe-night-out-strategy/safe-night-precincts

What is a rapid consumption drink?

• A drink served in a small glass or container such as shooters, shots, bombs, test tubes, jelly shots, and other similar drinks.
• A drink prepared not he premises that contains more than 45ml of spirits or liqueur
• A pre-mixed alcoholic drink (RTD) containing more than 5% of alcohol or containing more alcohol than 2 standard drinks. (This does not include beer or wine these are exempt because they are not mixed with another liquid)

How will all this effect Airlie Beach? time will tell, there is a concern out there that just before midnight people will rush to order their shots before the cut off which could see people fairly intoxicated around this time. This is were a strong RSA at venues will play its part. There is also concern about more people trying to get home in a more concentrated time period which may cause some logistical problems on the street. We will be watching closely and reporting back to the government on this. The board with consultation with the PSCC have decided this week that on the first weekend of July we will operate the shuttle bus to try help get people off the street quickly and to see if there is a real need for additional transport options at peak periods.

There is also a concern that there will be a increase of 'after parties' at hotels and residential areas when people are not quite ready to stop socialising.

Long term how it will effect Airlie Beach? Again this will be hard to tell, for our nightlife to stay vibrant the public really need to support their venues and be open to changing their behaviours to possibly go out earlier and move their night life habits up two hours. Its really up to the patrons on how this will go, their behaviours in relation to the changes will either make it or break it. People need to get behind their venues and show up, if no-one comes then you might see the closure of venues and to see any more of our great venues close would be a very sad day for Airlie Beach.

So please SHOW UP and support our town and our venues. Also behave the point of going out is to have fun and socialise friends. If you see trouble starting walk-away, talk to staff and security or police and just be kind to one another. 

As they would say in Amsterdam "STAY CLASSY"

WELCOME and Safe Night Out Update March 2016

Welcome to our Website.

Safe Night Out Airlie Beach (SNOAB)is excited to have our website up and running. We will be posting updates on what we are up to, what we attend to achieve and any developments news worthy to the Safe Night Out Airlie Beach life. We would like to thank Th3rd Dimension Media for their great work in helping us create this website and helping us develop our brand.

SNOABs main objective is to work as a community with the public, venues and stakeholders to minimise risk on a night out and ensure everyone has a safe and fun night out. We are lucky in Airlie Beach to have so many visitors come through and enjoy our region and all it has to offer. A part of their experience is having a fun and vibrant night out. For our small little town we do quite well in this department and are very lucky not to have as many issues as our bigger cities and town. This said no-one likes to see anti-social behaviour and we really want to create an environment in airlie beach where aggressive behaviour is not tolerated and not apart of our culture.

If you have any bright ideas on what we can do to change the unfortunate aggressive culture associated with alcohol and a night out your thoughts are most welcome. Please go to our contact page and drop us a line.

We have also set up a go fund me page. Yes we apply for grants but these won't last forever so we are looking at other ways to raise money to create a strong organisation that works as a community and implements local solutions for our little humble town.

https://www.gofundme.com/2nw3sdy4.

Whats new? Currently we have two pending funding grants, one is in relation to signage for our town it will include having road side signs at each end of town to let people know that they are in a Safe Night Our Precinct. In town we will have a notice board and precinct map so people know where amentitites are, the boarders of the precinct and are aware of what it means to be in a Safe Night Precinct. This will be coupled with flyer stands throughout our accommodation houses and backpackers. This initiative is aimed at making people aware of expected behaviours and what it means to be in a Safe Night Out Precinct.

The second idea we have in the works is a Safe Night Out Security Hub which will include and information pop up stand and vehicle to provide extra information and security at night and at chosen events. This idea has been applied for but is pending more operational information from us. Watch this space.

The Department of Communities have also recently put out to tender for rest and recovery centres, this is not something we were not allowed to apply for but have given our support to two community organisations for this funding. We will let you know more about this as soon as we know it.

The Safe Night Out Courtesy Bus trail has come to and end and in its evaluation stage. If you have any feedback regarding this initiative please contact us and we will send you a short survey to complete. Your feedback is important. Please copy and paste the below into an email complete and send to safenightairliebeach@outlook.com.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Gender?  MALE / FEMALE

Age Bracket: 18 - 25, 26-30, 31-35, 36-40, 40-50, 50+

Suburb:
Do you work at a night time venue on the main street? Restaurant, Pub, Club or Bar?

When was the last time you went out at night in Airlie Beach?

Which venues did you mostly frequent?

How many drinks on average would you say you had each night?

0-5, 6-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20+

How often do you go out per week / month?

What time do you go out usually?

Do you eat out first?

What’s the latest time you usually stay out until?

What would you do to reduce anti-social Behaviour in our street?

Do you feel safe in our main street at night? If not why?

Did you ride the courtesy Bus?

How Often? Where from? Where to? & what times?

Did you hail the bus or get a guard to arrange your pick up?

If you didn't catch the bus, what other options do you use to get home?

How far do you live away from the main street?

Do you think this is a beneficial service to run? Why?

Thank you for your time, please email this survey back to safenightoutairliebeach@outlook.com.