Queensland Government considers plan to cut trading hours for pubs and clubs to 3am Pubs and clubs would close at 3am under the plan hoped to curb alcohol-fuelled violence. ATTORNEY-General Jarrod Bleijie has flagged tougher penalties for drunken violence alongside a potential overhaul of trading hours for pubs and clubs. He said he was also looking at the success of winding back trading hours in combination with an earlier lockout as is currently done in Newcastle. It comes after The Courier-Mail today revealed an expert panel assembled my Mr Bleijie to help overhaul liquor licensing laws had recommended scrapping the 3am lockout and winding back trading hours to 3am. "We are seriously looking at the penalties applicable to people who are doing the wrong thing," he said. And if we have to increase those penalties, to substantially increase those penalties, to substantially increase the banning orders, then we'll consider that as well. Mr Bleijie said he had discussed the Newcastle model which included reduced trading hours, a lockout and drink restrictions. An education program combined with extra police and public transport has also been recommended to deal with the proposed 3am shutdown. "What they have shown in the Newcastle model is not in isolation, they looked at trading hours, they looked at lock-outs, they also looked at what time certain types of alcohol can't be sold over the counter," Mr Bleijie said. They did it as a package. What they have seen in the first couple of years is a 37 per cent reduction in alcohol-related violence. You can't ignore those statistics. Certainly we are looking at the Newcastle model. A LEADING Queensland surgeon and police have called for a 1am lockout to be combined with the winding back of pub and club trading hours. Maxillofacial surgeon Dr Anthony Lynham and police union president Ian Leavers yesterday said they supported winding back trading hours to 3am. but believed combining it with a 1am lockout and drink restriction measures like those used in Newcastle would be a more effective move. It was reported overnight that Queensland's controversial 3am lockout for pubs and clubs will be scrapped and trading hours wound back under plans being considered by the Newman Government. An expert panel assembled by Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to help overhaul the state's liquor licensing has recommended the change in a move it says will curb alcohol-fuelled violence. The panel, made up of police, industry and community groups, have recommended that all clubs now close at 3am in a compromise between commercial interests and community safety. The change would also make the 3am lockout introduced by the Beattie Government in 2006, which has made little difference to the rate of drunken assaults, redundant. About 100 Queensland clubs and pubs are currently licenced to trade past 3am but punters cannot enter new venues after then under the existing system. The panel also recommends an education program be combined with extra police and public transport to deal with the change which will see revellers turfed out of venues at the same time. Panel spokesman, Clubs Queensland CEO Doug Flockhart, said it was also recommended a moratorium on extending trading hours be scrapped. "The trading hours issue is probably one of the most contentious social issues," Mr Flockhart said. Currently there's a moratorium on applications for extended trading hours and that will expire at the end of December this year. If the government does nothing it means that the existing legislation will kick back in which will allow hospitality operators across the state to be able to extend trading hours again, anything up to 5am in the morning. Mr Flockhart said the recommendation to wind back trading hours to 3am was "strongly debated" by the panel but was chosen as it was "fair to all and commercially it still allowed operators to have viable businesses." "We had police sitting with us around that table, and others, who were very comfortable with 3am (as a closing time)," Mr Flockhart said. From recollection there was opinion shared around the table that between 3am and 5am there's a significant amount of lawlessness and assault that actually happens in that time. All patrons would be kicked out at 3am under the new plan, instead of the current lockout system. The only exception to the proposed changes would be casinos which currently have a special license enabling them to trade 24 hours. The recommended changes partly mirror the Newcastle model which has slashed the rate of alcohol-fuelled assaults by more than one third there. Leading Australian maxillofacial surgeon Dr Anthony Lynham supported the recommendation but urged the government to go even further and completely mirror the Newcastle model which includes an earlier lockout and stagged drinking restrictions to ensure revellers are not turfed out on the street at the same time. "The Newcastle model is world-renowned, it's cited across the world as best practice," Mr Lynham said. The change in trading hours and the scrapping of the moratorium also means clubs and pubs that have previously been stopped from opening later will have a chance to apply to extend their closing time until 3am. But, Mr Flockhart said it did not mean every licensed venue in Queensland would start trading until 3am. It's about flexibility and commercial reality comes into it,' he said. Even though you might apply to trade until 2am, that doesn't mean you are going to do that seven days a week because there's just commercial, more often than not, no market for it. Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said as yet no decision had been made. "I am currently considering the report and recommendations," he said. Trading hours and lock outs were part of the expert panel review because we were interested in the views of Queenslanders. The expert panel's full report and recommendations are expected to be considered by the Newman Government within the next few months. Other issues they have deliberated on included earlier opening hours for bottle shops, allowing bigger bets on poker machines, allowing bigger bets on poker machines and allowing trouble-prone pubs to appeal against glass bans.