ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has ruled out lockout laws in Canberra in a move that will be welcomed by the city's bars and clubs, but disappoints those who want action on late night alcohol-fuelled violence.
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Mr Barr said on Thursday that lockout laws would not be part of the government response to violence and anti-social behaviour in the city.
He was speaking after police released footage on Wednesday of another one-punch attack in Tuggeranong, which follows two videos of one-punch attacks over summer, one outside an East Row convenience store in the city about 3am on New Year's Day, and the other outside the PJ O'Reilly's pub in Greenway in December, also about 3am.
But Mr Barr said the latest attack had been at 12.30am so lockout laws would not have made a difference in that case.
His decision not to pursue early morning lockouts from Canberra bars disappointed co-chair of the National Alliance for Action on Alcohol Michael Moore, who accused the government of going softly in an election year.
"On the one hand Mr Barr's government has an issue with emergency waiting times. He also has an issue with alcohol-related violence in the early morning and the impact it has on policing and yet he doesn't seem to be prepared to grab the nettle and take the action that evidence shows is appropriate," Mr Moore, also chief executive of the Public Health Association, said.
"I guess they're being very careful about each and every issue that they have to deal with because they're feeling vulnerable."
The evidence was overwhelming that lockout laws worked, Mr Moore said, pointing to the significant drop in presentations at emergency departments in Newcastle. He wasn't pushing for "ludicrous" closing times, but for no "shots" after 1am, last drinks at 2am, and bars closing at 3am.
"The last thing we need is anything like the old 6 o'clock swill of the 1960s or even a 10 o'clock closing, but what we do know is once we go into the really early hours of the morning the violence increases dramatically."
But Mr Barr said "prohibitions, curfews and the like tend not to be particularly successful".
The response in Sydney and Queensland had been heavy-handed and had had "quite detrimental impacts in many other areas", he said, ruling out such "dramatic" changes in Canberra, where the government was "conscious of the need to work with all stakeholders".
In February, NSW Premier Mike Baird said alcohol-related assaults had fallen by 42.2 per cent in Sydney's central business district overall since the lockout laws were introduced, and by more than 60 per cent in Kings Cross.
Doctors were seeing far fewer emergency room presentations on the weekends and transport workers believed trains were safer, he said.
Lockout laws were introduced in the Sydney city centre in 2014, also following two one-punch fatals, and have been strengthened since. Takeaway alcohol sales are banned after 10pm, people are not allowed to enter venues after 1.30am and last drinks are at 3am.
Queensland has just passed lockout laws, to take effect from July, with last drinks at 3am in nightclub precincts and 2am elsewhere, in response to a recent fatal one-punch attack.
In January, Attorney-General Simon Corbell ruled out mandatory sentences for one-punch attacks.
