It's been a while since I posted anything but a bit of stuff has been happening recently so here are some of my thoughts. It all started when Groove Saint, a nightclub in Dean Street was listed on the NSW Schedule for violent premises with 12 assaults in a year. This is a venue that trades for less than 15 hours per week and has a maximum of about 450 patrons so per capita and per trading hour it has a high rate of incidents when compared to other venues in NSW. I moved a motion in Council expressing Council's disappointment at the listing and asking the owner to do whatever he could to improve the situation. One councillor opposed the motion but the other 7 (one did not vote because of a conflict of interest) supported it.
There has been some discussion in the media aobut "telling someone how to run their business". Any reading of the motion or analysis of the debate will show that, not at any stage did I offer advice or suggestions to the operators of the venue as to how the issue could or should be dealt with. It's their business and they should know best what to do. The record might suggest however that they need some help!
Why did I bring this issue up. Let's look at some facts and figures - not my opinions but facts gathered from several sources.
1. The cost to NSW of alcohol related crime, health, productivity and damage amounted to $3.87 billion in 2010. A very simplistic calculation shows that the cost to ALbury is in the order of $20 million per annum.
2. Alcohol related issues consume 70 - 80% of police workload after dark.
3. Last Saturday night 1 in 7 patients in hospital emergency departments attended as a result of alcohol consumption.
4. While the number of assaults has dropped over the last few years the severity of injuries has increased dramatically and even in the last week or so there have been some particularly violent assaults.
Now clearly this is not down to one venue but the common factor is alcohol consumption and the various levels of government seem reluctant to face up to the serious social problem we have with excessive drinking and continue to talk about self-responsibility. We are prepared to legislate to require people to wear seat belts in cars, to wear a helmet when riding a bike but we are not prepared to do more to change the drinking culture and the consequences, both financial and healthwise that come with it.
Then the matter of energy drinks and alcohol came up and within a day I was contacted by one of the manufacturers and the Beverage Council of Australia who wanted to meet me. Two people flew from Sysney to Albury to meet me and two other people on the ALbury Liquor Accord. When I commented in another article that I thought it was damage control they were "offended". They rightly say that they do not support the use of energy drinks in shots but it is clear that there is frequent use of them. Even I have heard of Jager-bombs and Skittle-bombs and many bars have energy drinks such as Mother on tap.
So what am I after? Not telling people how to run their business, not for banning energy drinks but to ask the community what do you want to happen in your neighbourhood and to your children. What's happening at the moment doesn't seem too great to me.
