July 2010 - The Sydney Morning Herald
NSW Police have asked the council to create 17 new zones in Surry Hills with a further two in Eveleigh Street, Redfern, home to a large Aboriginal population, bringing to 166 the number of zones in the city, many of them in residential streets.
Drinking alcohol on the streets is legal in NSW except in the zones where police have power to confiscate and dispose of alcohol without first warning those in possession of alcohol.
The chief executive of Redfern Legal Centre, Joanna Shulman, said it would object to the proposed new zones, which she said did little to solve problems with alcohol and simply hid them from public view.
''Some of these areas are residential areas where Aboriginal people live,'' she said.
''Police have a history of inappropriately targeting the vulnerable, homeless people and people with mental illness, and the result is these groups are pushed into less conspicuous places and away from support services including temporary food and shelter.''
She feared the new zones would push drinkers ''into stairwells, into public toilets and areas where Mission Beat and other charities can't access them'' and would ''make the vulnerable more hidden''.
Instead of more alcohol-free zones, she called on the City of Sydney and the state government to establish ''wet centres'' such as those found in Britain, where drinkers are provided with a covered area out of public view to drink without fear of harassment and have access to community services that help with accommodation, food and health needs.
The City of Sydney's late night economy manager, Suzie Matthews, defended the alcohol-free zones, which she said were ''one tool among many'' in dealing with chronic alcohol problems.
She said it was not necessarily the case that there were an increasing number of the zones in residential areas and said they were created in response to requests from local residents, businesses and police.
One request was enough for the council to consider a new zone and call for submissions on the proposal.
Ms Matthew said the requests for the new zones came from police and residents although a police spokeswoman said all 19 requests had been made by police.
The NSW Police commander of drug and alcohol co-ordination, Detective Superintendent Tony Cooke, said the zones had proved a good tool since they were introduced six years ago and had improved safety in the community.
He agreed that the zones would not stop people drinking, but said the power for police to seize alcohol and direct people out of the areas would be a real benefit to the community.
Asked where people would go to drink, he said that was ''up to them''.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said commanders from Redfern and Surry Hills had requested the zones because people from outside the areas were coming to the streets and regularly becoming involved in alcohol-related assaults.
Commanders said the zones had produced ''excellent results'' with a reduction in levels of crime.
Matthew Moore
Read the article on The Sydney Morning Herald website.
