Brisbane protest against planned 2am nightclub lockout - Thu 11 March 4pm Parliament House @qldlockedout

UPDATE: For a report with pictures, sound and video from the rally, click here.

The Queensland Locked Out organisation is holding a protest rally to let politicians and the public know that they're against the idea of locking people out of nightclubs at 2am closing ALL licenced venues at 2am,  The proposal for a 2am lockout closure comes from the Queensland Police Union, in their submission (pdf file - scroll to page 73) to the Inquiry into Alcohol-Related Violence being held by the Law, Justice and Safety Committee of the Queensland Parliament.

Queensland Locked Out has countered with other proposals to deal with what it says is the major social issue of "extreme violence" on Brisbane streets. QLO's proposals include harsher penalties for anti-social and aggressive behaviour, more police and security guards, ID scanners to keep a record of patrons entering nightclubs and other licenced premises, and chillout areas to be set up in entertainment districts.

There's already a 3am lockout - meaning if you leave a nightclub after 3am you can't get back in. The 3am lockout has been in place since 2005. The current lock-out does not apply to the Treasury Casino. The Treasury Casino is owned by Tabcorp, and the Queensland Government-owned QIC was the tenth-biggest shareholder in Tabcorp as of August 2009.

A trial of a 2am lockout in Victoria in 2008 ended after 3 months. This video shows Australian Greens member (and candidate for the seat of Melbourne in this year's Federal Election) Adam Bandt speaking against Victoria's lockout at a protest rally in Melbourne:

You can become a fan of the Queensland Locked Out Facebook page here, and the Facebook event for the March 12 rally is here. You can follow Queensland Locked Out on Twitter if you click here.

The rally is at Parliament House, on the corner of George and Alice Sts in Brisbane City - click here for a Google Map which includes public transport details. To find public transport route and timetable information, click here to use the Translink journey planner.