Tags:
Bendigo
,
violence
,
youth
,
alcohol
,
assault
By ANTHONY RADFORD
WELL-KNOWN Bendigo businessman Keith Sutherland is in a unique position to experience Bendigo’s anti-social violence first hand.
Mr Sutherland lives in the CBD entertainment precinct and most of his Sunday mornings are spent dealing with the effects of the night before.
He sees violence
almost weekly and has
decided to speak out to try and find a solution.
“Someone is going to get killed if something is not done,” he said.
“The violence is so scary. Recently, a family member attended an 18th birthday party. We received a call to say she had been what is referred to as ‘bottled’.
“It was a terrifying experience and an experience that no child should go through just for attending a birthday party.”
Mr Sutherland said the problem was a cultural one and a solution should be found as a community.
“The city appears to be having an increase in violence and anti-social behaviour,” he said.
“This is a community problem. It is also about parents condoning drinking before their children go out.
“As a CBD resident I take much pride in our beautiful city and it is so disappointing to see people urinating and smashing bottles and leaving rubbish around to spoil our unique and historical city.”
Mr Sutherland said putting the blame on police or politicians or nightclub owners was not helpful.
“An urgent debate is required to find ways to support our police and council to come up with better options,” he said.
“Something needs to be done urgently, before it gets more out of control, so I would urge the mayor, police and all interested parties to convene a meeting to try and find a solution to our very serious problem.
“The debate should include all stakeholders, starting from parent’s attitude to alcohol consumption, prior to their children going out to nightspots.
“The debate required should be on an impartial basis, with political parties not blaming each other for lack of police numbers, even though I believe we do need an increase of police around the nightspot precinct.”
Mr Sutherland’s community work also sees him work with young people.
“The message is not getting through to younger people,” he said.
“As chairman of Lead On, we have applied for a Federal Government grant for a binge drinking program which was highlighted as a government priority by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd several months ago.
“I urge Member for Bendigo Steve Gibbons to support our application.
“If there was ever a time to include the community in an awareness campaign, it surely is now.”
Mr Sutherland, who is also chairman of the Bendigo Weekly, said one of the problems was the lockout and the 5am licences.
“I personally believe there is no need to have 5am licences in Bendigo, we should be focusing on getting patrons to go out earlier, so not as much alcohol is consumed prior to going to the clubs,” he said.
“There does exist an unfair licence arrangement in Bendigo which causes problems with the 2am lockout. If the existing is to stay, I believe we should have staggered closing times of 4am and 5am.
“The premises that have a 3am licence should be allowed to extend to 4am which changes the urgency to line up from 1.30am to gain access to the 5am venues prior to the lockout.
“Also the lockout should be changed from 2am till 3am.
“I also believe with the staggered closing times of 4am and 5am it would puts less pressure on the taxi service and would partly allay the huge line awaiting taxis on many occasions.
“The current taxi rank outside La Piazza should be shifted to the creek side of Bull Street.”
