Your report of the parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday in Byron Bay on ways to address youth and abuse of alcohol failed to mention that Superintendent Stuart Wilkins said emphatically that alcohol-related violence had increased in Byron Bay in August and September this year.
It also failed to mention that two local doctors representing Last Drinks at 12 stated that the no-cost way to reduce alcohol-related violence is for the cessation of the service of alcohol in licensed premises in Byron Bay after midnight, the time when the overwhelming number of harmful incidents occur.
The emergency-specialist doctors said that for every hour reduction of the operation of licensed premises after midnight, there is a 17 per cent reduction in alcohol-related violence.
They also said that other costly measures such as improved lighting only reduced violence by two per cent.
It’s a well-known fact that most violence occurs outside the nightclubs, which are well lit.
Teresa Heal, Byron Bay
