Bligh cool on cutting pub hours

Closing Queensland's bars and clubs earlier won't be a "magic bullet" to curbing
alcohol-fuelled violence, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says.
A parliamentary inquiry will on Thursday release its recommendations on how to curb
the rise in booze-fuelled violence.
It will say pubs and clubs across the state should be forced to close earlier, with
most venues currently allowed to trade until 5am to face a 3am curfew, The
Courier-Mail reports.
Ms Bligh said she would not speculate on the inquiry's recommendations and expressed
hope it would present sensible suggestions to keep the streets safer.
"The government set up this inquiry up because we are serious about improvements in
this area," she told reporters on Wednesday.
"We will take the recommendations very seriously, give them our consideration, and
advise Queenslanders which ones will be adopted."
It's understood the inquiry will call on the government to reject applications from
almost 100 suburban pubs seeking to trade beyond midnight.
Ms Bligh rejected claims the government was partly to blame for the violence by
increasing the number of 5am trading licences.
"What we did at the same time as setting up this inquiry last year was put a
moratorium on any further approvals of late-night licences, particularly out there
in our suburbs, because there was a spate of applications, and that was
inappropriate," Ms Bligh said.
She said the government wasn't looking to unfairly crack down on pubs and clubs.
She said she hoped the inquiry would suggest courses of action that were in the
"best interest of the public and our entertainment precincts".
She added: "I think it is important that we don't see trading hours as some sort of
magic bullet - police numbers, public transport solutions, crowd control, how we
manage transport and traffic in the street are also part of managing these precincts
better.
"We don't want to shut down our entertainment precincts."
Earlier, Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said reduced trading hours
was a commonsense victory in the battle against booze-fuelled violence.
"We worked hard for this outcome, supported by our colleagues at the Ambulance Union
and the Royal College of Surgeons," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Earlier closing times will save lives and result in fewer serious injuries to
members of the public and emergency service workers.
"We asked the parliamentary inquiry to put people before profit and they seem to
have taken that on board.
The police union put together a detailed submission to the parliamentary inquiry
that was supported by the Queensland Ambulance Union, the Royal College of Surgeons
and Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.
Representatives from both sides of politics took part in the inquiry. The
recommendations will be tabled in parliament on Thursday.