WED 19 FEB 2014
Printed on 100% recycled paper
Maids
PROUDLY INDEPENDENT
Trades & Services Need help at your place this weekend? p.39-44
Our laws will work Exclusive: Attorney General Greg Smith’s interview with the Post Melissah Comber
‘Maid’ in Newcastle p.25
Community Cabinet visit p.4-5
Jets chasing finals spot Third win over Roar
p.48
N
ew South Wales Attorney General Greg Smith is confident that the O’Farrell Government’s new laws will curb alcohol-induced violence. Speaking exclusively to the Post, Mr Smith said he believed that toughening the laws will act as a deterrent. “I hope we never have to use it, that it’s the end of all this period of aggressive alcohol-induced and druginduced violence.” The new eight-year mandatory minimum sentence for perpetrators of fatal assaults, where alcohol or drugs are involved, is already in force, and from February 24 Sydney’s CBD will feel the affects of the much-lauded ‘Newcastle Solution’, including 1:30am lockouts and the ceasing of alcohol service at 3am. Bottle shops statewide will also have to close at 10pm, which Mr Smith hopes will discourage ‘pre-fuelling’, the consumption of alcohol at home before going out. “Unfortunately, our culture has always had a lot of citizens drinking heavily, particularly young people,” he said. “Your recent generations seem to stay out much later and drink…before they go out. “These are the kind of things we’d like to discourage, so the opening hours of liquor shops have been limited to 10pm which at least limits that to some extent.” Mr Smith, however, has been criticised for what some have perceived as a backflip, after saying in November that mandatory minimum sentencing is an ‘expensive and ineffective crime-fighting tool’. Continues on page 7
Attorney General Greg Smith and Member for Maitland Robyn Parker at the refurbished Maitland Courthouse
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