Sydney won't be able to call itself a global city if patrons are "locked out" of pubs and clubs. Source: AAP
SYDNEY won't be able to call itself a global city if patrons are "locked out" of pubs and clubs to prevent drunkenness and alcohol-related crime after dark, a forum has heard.
Mental Health Minister Kevin Humphries told the NSW Alcohol Summit at Parliament House he wouldn't support expanding the lockout program already in place in areas including Newcastle and the Hunter.
The strategy involves restricting trading hours and entry to licensed premises and is designed to encourage drinkers to head home earlier.
"Lockouts don't necessarily work for everybody," Mr Humphries said during a panel discussion at Thursday's forum, adding it was expected Sydney would have a 24-hour entertainment hub like Kings Cross.
"Everybody expects a city like Sydney, a world city, to have that kind of precinct," he said.
"It's not going to be a blanket approach."
Earlier, central metropolitan police commander Mark Murdoch told the summit alcohol-related crime took up a disproportionate amount of his officers' time and energy.
He described lockout strategies in Manly, on Sydney's northern beaches, and Newcastle, as "successful".
Opposition Leader John Robertson told the forum NSW was in the grip of a binge-drinking culture, but closing doors at every licensed premises after a certain hour wasn't the solution.
"You can't just say we're going to be a global city ... but some things aren't going to be available," he said.
The Labor leader said the key was changing drinking culture.
"I think we've got to start looking and dealing with alcohol in the same we were dealing with tobacco when we started in the late 70s and early 80s," he said.
"That obviously includes what you do around advertising.
"If you accept that alcohol is a problem, advertising becomes part of the solution."
Former NSW minister John Della Bosca called for a "serious debate" over whether alcohol advertising should be banned.
Greens MP John Kaye said tighter restrictions were overdue.
"(Advertising) has to avoid glamorising the consumption of alcohol, which it currently does," he said.
"It has to avoid making the consumption of alcohol look like it has any benefits. It has to avoid making the consumption of alcohol look like it's a social necessity."
He said the question of trading hours for licensed premises was complex, but one compromise could involve requiring licence-holders to continue operating without serving alcohol after a certain hour.
"(But) we don't want to shut the city down at 10 o'clock at night," he said.
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