Friday, 7 September y

NSW Government determined to keep secret their secret documents

The NSW government is to appeal the Supreme Court decision of last week that ordered the government to hand over the secret documents that the Director General of Trade & Investment used to make a provisional decision to dramatically restrict drinkers rights in Kings Cross. Interestingly, this news comes a day after the NSW Bureau of Crime Stats & Research (BOSCAR) released vital new information that reinforces the fact that assault rates in Kings Cross have dropped 37% over the past five years. BOSCAR has found that over the past two years: The downward trend in assault on licensed premises has continued (down 9.3%). The significant downward trend was present for the two major contributors to licensed premises; hotels/pubs (down 8.4%) and clubs (down 14.8%). According to the Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, the most encouraging result(s) ...are that the number of assaults on licensed premises has continued to fall... and a major trend is that almost half of the significant downtrend in non-domestic violence related assault came from falls in assault in outdoor/public places. Licensed premises accounted for another 14 percent of the fall.... Over the last two years the number of incidents of assault with a glass/bottle fell very substantially, both for NSW as a whole (down 20.9%) and for Sydney SD in particular (down 26.7%). Go here for BOSCARs Media release: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/pages/bocsar_mr_rcs_jun12

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The Solotel Hospitality Group owns and manages the Kings Cross Hotel, along with 20 other licensed establishments. The legal action by The Kings Cross Hotel asked the Court to order the Director-General to disclose the raw material he used to make his proposed decision to restrict the operating conditions of the Kings Cross Hotel. Andrew Gibbs, CEO of the Solotel Group, said today: "Yesterday, the facts came out from the umpire that shows we are doing our job, that violent incidents on licensed premises are going down, not up, as the government would want you to believe. Now today we have more stalling, more spending of taxpayers money, with the government appealing the Supreme Courts decision which had found it is only fair that we get access to the documents behind the Director-Generals decision. If the Director-Generals decisions are to be based on facts, why wouldn't they just release this important information? We believe that regulatory decisions about the Kings Cross area should be based on all the available evidence, such as what BOCSAR has just released and the fact that assaults in Kings Cross have dropped a dramatic 37% over the past 5 years. What the authorities should be focused on is the startling evidence in the BOSCAR Report that amphetamine possession/use is UP 26%. Thats where the crackdown should be, not on us. We also believe that not all licensed premises should be lumped in together and treated as a group, but should be treated on their own merits and track record. The 'one size fits all solution' is wrong. Using that supposed solution, is to punish the vast majority of patrons who are well behaved and who choose to enjoy themselves responsibly at the Kings Cross Hotel." The Solotel Hospitality Group has a proud record of leading the industry in the provision of a safe and responsible drinking environment. "In fact, we believe that the safest place to be for a night out in the Cross is in the Kings Cross Hotel." Gibbs said today.

Solotel CEO, Andrew Gibbs. Andrew is available for interview. Please contact Anthony McClellan AMC Media Mob: 0433 122 360 anthonymcc@gmail.com Twitter: antmac9 BACKGROUND TO PROPOSED NEW RESTRICTIONS Cocktails could not be sold from 12:00 midnight on Friday and Saturday evenings. No alcohol could be sold for one hour, at 4:00am on a Saturday and Sunday morning. This is an important trading period for the Hotel Business to met the needs of shift workers, hospitality workers, tourists and others, in such a cosmopolitan world class city like Sydney.

ENDS