It is shaping as the Labor government’s signature issue of the year,but it needs support from the rural-focused Katter’s Australian party, while also facing opposition from music venues and the alcohol industryThe irony of the Queensland government’s push for lockout laws is that its fate rests with two politicians whose constituencies would be wholly unaffected by their introduction.
In a hung parliament, or with the Palaszczuk government already having lost the support of its former backbencher-turned-independent Billy Gordon for a proposal to wind back trading hours for late-night venues to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence,it is Katter’s Australian party that holds the whip hand.
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Source: theguardian.com