Opposition casts doubt over Bendigo lockout
Posted
The Victorian Opposition says police figures on the Bendigo CBD lockout show assaults have shifted from the streets to inside late-night venues.
The 2:00am AEST lockout was introduced in September last year.
Police figures show four more assaults were recorded during the past 12 months, compared with the same time last year.
The statistics show the number of assaults outside venues dropped, but increased inside venues.
The Opposition spokesman for police, Andrew McIntosh, says while the official figures have not been made public, the lockout does not appear to be working.
"Just shifting a violent crime off the streets on to some other area is not a success in my book," he said.
"At the end of the day we've seen a simple problem associated with the 2:00am lockout and metropolitan Melbourne, it's claimed to be a success in Ballarat yet it seems in Bendigo there has been an ambivalent outcome."
