One state bans ladies' nights in bars; schools adopt dress code for parents
By Jonathan Pearlman, The Straits Times, 3 Jan 2013
SYDNEY - The new year in Australia has been marked by claims the country is turning into a "nanny state" with new rules including dress codes for parents picking up children from school and bans on smoking near beaches.
One of the most controversial is in the state of South Australia, which has banned bars from holding "ladies' nights" - cheap or free drinks for women to try to improve the gender balance.
The ban, from Jan 18, was introduced by the state government to try to curb binge drinking.
Bars will also be required to offer free water and at least one non-alcoholic beverage that is cheaper than the cheapest alcoholic drink.
PJ O'Briens, a bar in the capital, Adelaide, said it will change the name of its weekly Ladies' Nights - a Thursday night deal offering free vodka drinks to women - and will now include men in its promotions.
"As long as you offer the special deals to everyone, it is okay," the bar's manager said.
In the state of Victoria, beach-goers will now face fines of A$140 (S$178) if they light a cigarette within 50m of a beach. Several other states already have fines for smoking within 10m of a children's playground.
Meanwhile, in New South Wales, the state with the largest population, various state schools have introduced a dress code.
Quakers Hill East Public School in Sydney told parents and visitors to wear "neat, casual clothing and footwear".
"Clothing options that do not comply with (the school's) code of conduct include, but are not limited to, any clothing displaying racist or similarly offensive messages, beachwear and/or bikini tops," its guidelines say.
A group that represents the state's high school principals, the NSW Secondary Principals' Council, supported the guidelines.
"It is probably a reaction to the behaviour of parents," said the group's deputy president, Mr Chris Presland.
Some other schools have provided guidelines to parents urging them not to approach children other than their own.
However, the raft of new rules has angered civil libertarians, who say they are unnecessary and excessive.
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties said smoking bans were justified as public health measures but the other rules and guidelines were "nanny state moves".
The council's head, Mr Terry O'Gorman, said Australia's state governments had ceded power to the federal government and frequently resorted to unnecessary laws and announcements merely for political purposes.
"It is the state interfering simply because they can - often for short term political gain so that the relevant politician can say, 'Look what I am doing about this problem'," he told The Straits Times.
Mr O'Gorman said the schools' dress codes for parents were "overly detailed and unnecessarily dictating to parents".
The move against ladies' nights in bars, he said, was unnecessary because states already had tough liquor laws that allowed them to curb binge drinking and prevent alcohol being served to people who were too drunk.
However, local communities largely signalled support for the new measures.
The move to ban cigarettes near beaches in Victoria followed a campaign by an environmental group which found 25,000 cigarette butts on a 200m section of Melbourne's popular St Kilda beach.
And the main newspaper in South Australia, the Adelaide Advertiser, described the move to ban ladies' nights as "a step in the right direction".
No comments:
Post a Comment