‘Safe’ Surfers getting safer

SURFERS Paradise is as safe as the rest of the city when it comes to assaults – and getting safer – shows a new study into decreased drinking hours.

Research into Labor’s new laws targeting alcohol-related violence shows encouraging results for the Coast party precinct, before and after.

It also concludes Surfers is safer than Brisbane’s party precinct Fortitude Valley.

The Griffith University review shows a drop in serious Surfers assaults coincided with the drinking cutoff coming forward two hours to 3am from July 1 last year. It also shows the proportion of assaults from 1-5am was dropping anyway and the worst time for assaults was 9pm-midnight.

The interim review, commissioned by Surfers Paradise Alliance and Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce, also found assaults in Surfers were not “significantly higher than elsewhere on the Coast”.

Assaults in Broadbeach rose 3.8 per cent from June to September quarters last year when the new laws kicked in.

Chamber president Martin Hall said the review – based on police recorded crime data, which the researchers note is “inherently complex to interpret” – indicated “mixed results” so far, “...which suggest the new laws might not be having any impact on the number of assaults and alcohol-related incidents,” he said.

But both Mr Hall and Surfers Paradise Alliance CEO Mike Winlaw were pleased.

“The report found on average, Surfers Paradise Police Division accounts for 15 to 22 per cent of the reported assaults in the Gold Coast,” Mr Hall said. “This is broadly consistent with the combined total assaults in the Gold Coast Police District’s division without a safe night precinct.”

Mr Winlaw said the results were “very encouraging” for the reputation of Surfers’ party precinct. “The downward trend is a direct result of effective policing strategies and the change in drinking hours has complemented that. But the early signs in terms of the new licensing hours are encouraging too, it’s a continuation of the downward trend.”