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Over the past few years, there have been a number of deaths caused by unprovoked one-punch attacks ("king-hits", or now "coward punches"), possibly the highest

Over the past few years, there have been a number of deaths caused by unprovoked one-punch attacks ("king-hits", or now "coward punches"), possibly the highest profile being the death of Daniel Christie[0] after being attacked in Kings Cross, a hotspot for nightlife. In the wake of these attacks, a number of new regulations and laws have been passed, with the stated aim of reducing alcohol-related violence. These regulations had been tested previously in Newcastle, the aforementioned deaths being an opportunity to pass them swiftly in Sydney. Despite the supposed good intentions, there are a number of things that people question about the new laws, such as that the new regime is overcomplicated and often just silly (see anecdotes in this thread), or the rather suspect exemption of the local casinos from the laws, despite suffering the same problems[1]. Additionally, some people would argue that the response has been disproportionate to the actual problem - this infographic[2] from a violence support group[3] claims that there were only 20 deaths attributable to this kind of attack between 2007 and 2012. Personally, I'm somewhat of a homebody and haven't been directly affected by the changes in the law, but I do consider them an overreaction and lament the effect they've had on Sydney's nightlife in general. Having read the article in it's original location[4], where the author provides more figures to support their allegations, I was left feeling rather bitter about the whole situation, though I do agree that it was written extremely emotively and was intended to elicit that response. On behalf of the other side, though, I would offer this[5] video clip - it's from this week, showing the Senior Australian of the Year Gordian Fulde responding to a question about the lockout laws, for which he was a strong advocate. [0]: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/daniel-christie-dies-following-kinghit-punch-20140111-30ndv.html http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/daniel-christie-dies-following-kin... [1]: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/star-casino-may-be-the-most-violent-venue-but-exempt-from-restrictions-20150420-1morb6.html http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/star-casino-may-be-the-most-violen... [2]: http://opck.qhvsg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2014/09/opcksuckerpunch1.pdf http://opck.qhvsg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2014/09... [3]: http://opck.qhvsg.org.au/ http://opck.qhvsg.org.au/ [4]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/would-last-person-sydney-please-turn-lights-out-matt-barrie https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/would-last-person-sydney-plea... [5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDwoqkmZULI&t=40m55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDwoqkmZULI&t=40m55s

paganel 11y ago
> showing the Senior Australian of the Year Gordian Fulde responding to a question about the lockout laws, for which he was a strong advocate. I have no idea who the guy is, he might be great in other respects, but his answer to the question he was asked was absolute bollocks. "Of course you can still have a drink at 2AM, go home with your friends and open a bottle of champagne", I mean, what kind of shitty answer is that? Does this guy really believe that's what young people should do? Sit at home and thanking God that nothing bad happens? I've never been to Australia but this video has really infuriated me, because in 2-3 years' time these sort of people's shitty rationalizations will certainly make their way half of the world to my Eastern European country as reasons to "make young people behave". "If the civilized Australians are doing it, why shouldn't we?", that's what local politicians would say (you can replace the Australians with the British, Swedish or the Germans, there's always more civilized people than us who have answers to all the life's problems).
- chris_wot 11y ago
  He's the guy who makes sure that you don't die when you get assaulted in Kings Cross. He runs the Emergency Department at St Vincent's Hospital, which is right across from that area. HTH.
stevebmark 11y ago
Is it telling that there's an actual name for a specific type of assault popularized by drunken people in Australia? It's almost as if this idea has become part of the culture. I'm not aware of any other types of assaults that have become so mainstream that they're given their own name (which doesn't mean they don't exist). Is it actually a part of the culture, meaning these laws are justified? I could also see the danger of naming something, when someone is drunk it just comes into their head as an action to do (which would also justify the laws).

paganel 11y ago

> showing the Senior Australian of the Year Gordian Fulde responding to a question about the lockout laws, for which he was a strong advocate. I have no idea who the guy is, he might be great in other respects, but his answer to the question he was asked was absolute bollocks. "Of course you can still have a drink at 2AM, go home with your friends and open a bottle of champagne", I mean, what kind of shitty answer is that? Does this guy really believe that's what young people should do? Sit at home and thanking God that nothing bad happens? I've never been to Australia but this video has really infuriated me, because in 2-3 years' time these sort of people's shitty rationalizations will certainly make their way half of the world to my Eastern European country as reasons to "make young people behave". "If the civilized Australians are doing it, why shouldn't we?", that's what local politicians would say (you can replace the Australians with the British, Swedish or the Germans, there's always more civilized people than us who have answers to all the life's problems).

chris_wot 11y ago
He's the guy who makes sure that you don't die when you get assaulted in Kings Cross. He runs the Emergency Department at St Vincent's Hospital, which is right across from that area. HTH.

stevebmark 11y ago

Is it telling that there's an actual name for a specific type of assault popularized by drunken people in Australia? It's almost as if this idea has become part of the culture. I'm not aware of any other types of assaults that have become so mainstream that they're given their own name (which doesn't mean they don't exist). Is it actually a part of the culture, meaning these laws are justified? I could also see the danger of naming something, when someone is drunk it just comes into their head as an action to do (which would also justify the laws).