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Premier Roger Cook has declared nothing will be off the table in a review of public safety in the state’s entertainment precincts following the tragic death of former WA Labor secretary Tim Picton.
Picton died in hospital on Monday after allegedly being “coward-punched” during a night out in Northbridge on December 27.
WA Premier Roger Cook.Credit: Trevor Collens
On Tuesday, Cook said the government would consult police and see what levers could be pulled to improve safety outside pubs and bars.
However, asked whether that could include lockout laws, he said: “Nothing’s off the table, but we’ll get advice from the police as to what else we can do to keep people safe.”
“When you have that cocktail of alcohol, nighttime activity, and particularly in the wee hours of the morning, they can lead to dangerous situations, so I think there’s more that we can do to look at the circumstances in which people disperse and in the evening, to try to make that a safer process.”
Successive governments have attempted to tackle violence in WA’s nightlife precincts with harsher penalties for one-punch attacks.
The latest attempt was the introduction of Protected Entertainment Precincts, which give WA Police the power to issue short-term exclusion orders for up to six months to a person “displaying disruptive, violent, or threatening behaviour” in parts of Perth, Northbridge, Fremantle, Scarborough, Hillarys or Mandurah.
The laws were introduced after nightclub manager Giuseppe “Peppe” Raco died following an unprovoked one-punch attack by a stranger in Northbridge in July 2020.
Cook said WA’s current one-punch laws were already very strict, but there was potentially more they could do about the circumstances that led to such situations.
“We have a range of levers and opportunities to provide further regulation of those environments, particularly around areas that the police might be aware of, where this sort of incidence is more common,” he said.
“We’re very open to advice from the police and others about how we can make Perth entertainment districts safer.”
Tim Picton was an adviser to Labor governments in WA and Victoria before becoming at Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources.
WA does not have precinct-wide lockout laws, but venues are allowed to implement them, and their venue licence may have conditions on trading hours.
Sydney has lockout laws which stop venues allowing people in after 1.30am, but the policy has been widely regarded as causing the decline in the city’s nightlife.
Picton’s family announced his death on Monday after he spent three weeks in a coma.
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His alleged attacker, Brodie Jake Dewar, 20, is expected to have his charges upgraded to manslaughter at his next court appearance in February.
Dewar appeared in court last week, where CCTV footage of the incident was played, showing Picton standing and talking calmly to a man police allege was Dewar, who then raised his right arm and punched Picton in the face.
The altercation happened about 5.35am outside a club in the heart of Northbridge.
Picton was placed in an induced coma and underwent surgery for a serious brain bleed and fractured skull.
Dewar had his bail revoked last week after being charged over another incident, which allegedly occurred on Christmas Day, with the magistrate describing both attacks as “coward punches”.
While avoiding commenting on Picton’s death specifically on Tuesday, WA Police Minister Reece Whitby said the message to everyone was that a wild swing could be devastating.
“It can change your life, as well as end the life of the person at the other end, it can result in devastating consequences for both the accused and the victim,” he said.
“There are lives that will never be the same because of a moment, a split-second decision to swing at someone. It is just, it’s heart-wrenching.
“Let everyone see this and reflect on what it means and think again when you get hot under the collar. There’s never an excuse for this.”
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