Newcastle’s curfew hours will be reviewed again on November 19. But have they achieved anything? The majority say no - Newcastle’s wildlife they claim Newcastle's wildlife still ruin Newcastle’s nightlife . . .
Newcastle’s 1.30am lockdown and 3.30am curfew will be reviewed again with the onset of summer.
And with Hamilton self-imposing similar hours, the question still stands as to whether the reduced trade hours have reduced the number of assaults and vandalism attacks in the area.
Save Our Newcastle group’s Tobie O’Shea-Anderton says the statistics are deceptive.
“Over the last three months we have seen a decrease in assaults but there has also been a significant drop in patronage.
“The clubs are taking enormous steps to keep everyone happy.
“Some people are still loading up before they come into town and they are not getting into the clubs ... and then we are seeing an increased level of violence towards security guards.”
Lorraine*, a resident of Lindsay Street, Hamilton of more than 20 years, says the curfews do not work.
“It’s frustrating - they pee in your front garden, ring your front door bell, smash bottles, knock off your plants.
“It’s not the Hamilton it used to be.
“Their attitudes are disgusting - something needs to be done about the anti-social behaviour.”
She says getting the drinkers back home is the biggest problem.
“There needs to be some kind of correspondence with the train and buses and the curfew times.”
Dennison Street resident Scott Jackson, 22, agrees.
“The curfews are a band-aid solution - there needs to be more police and better transport.”
Presently, the trains out of Hamilton to Adamstown, Kotara and to Lake Macquarie run at 2.45am and 4.40am.
Trains to Waratah, Newcastle University and Maitland leave Hamilton at 1.21am, 2.31am and 4.01am.
Bus 334 to Kotara, Cardiff, Glendale and bus 322 to Belmont run only once an hour from Hamilton.
But Tony Brown from the coalition of inner city residents group said the real issue was the high intoxication levels.
“It’s the culture of Newcastle – these people are drinking supermarket grog at home, then they come into town intoxicated.”
He acknowledged that it was a minority doing these things, but said the pubs and clubs had a lot of responsibility to uphold to the rest of the community.
“They are putting profits ahead of public safety.”
Hotel’s Association director of operations Andrew Fletcher says Hamilton’s voluntary curfew hours have helped somewhat, ‘but the bigger issues haven’t been solved’.
“Transport is still a major concern.”
“Currently there is a shared security system imposed – the security guards along Beaumont Street all use the same radio frequency are in constant contact with one another during the night.”
“They can inform each other of problematic patrons or scuffles on the street.”
The Liquor Administration Board has set the next review of curfew hours for Newcastle for November 19.
* Lorraine’s did not want her surname to be published.
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