The George Street precinct, which runs from Druitt Street to Hay Street in Haymarket and takes in parts of Liverpool and Goulburn streets to the east, is under intense scrutiny after a three-year freeze on new liquor licences expired in December 2012. Under intense scrutiny: Crackdown on George Street's alcohol-fuelled violence looms. Credit:Daniel Shaw The freeze was lifted to trial a new system of evaluating liquor licence applications called the Environment and Venue Assessment Tool. Assault data compiled during the 12-month trial will be compared with figures within the Oxford Street-Darlinghurst liquor accord precinct to gauge the effectiveness of the new tool, which aims to assess the risk a new licence poses to the community. Data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics has revealed that non-domestic violence-related assaults in the central Sydney 2000 postcode region have fallen by only 3 per cent compared with what the government says is a 28 per cent drop across the state since 2008. Meanwhile, one of the nation's oldest health organisations has called for a broad national inquiry on alcohol-related harm.

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion was reported as announcing such an inquiry last week but his office later said it would be confined to alcohol misuse in indigenous communities. Restrictive: Sydney's night life may undergo drastic changes to improve safety. But the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council, whose funding the Abbott government removed in November, says a wider inquiry is needed. Council chief executive David Templeman said his organisation ''strongly supports'' the proposal for an inquiry but ''that it needs to be truly national in its approach''. ''Alcohol misuse has become a matter of public safety in terms of the incidence of alcohol-related injury, violence and illness in the Australian community. Police, hospital staff and paramedics around the country back this stance but governments ignore them.''

Figures released on Friday revealed there had been an annual average 19.1 per cent drop in assaults in Kings Cross during the past two years. Asked if the state government would consider a Kings Cross-style intervention in the George Street precinct, Hospitality Minister George Souris said the government was ''presently analysing assault information and compliance information over all existing entertainment precincts and precinct liquor accords''. Mr Souris said the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing would provide the findings of the EVAT trial ''in the coming months'' and said the government was also considering the 91 recommendations of the five-year statutory review of the Liquor Act by former public servant Michael Foggo. A key recommendation was the introduction of a ''risk-based'' liquor licensing system whereby a fee would be paid for the periodic renewal of a licence. The size of the fee would be determined by the risk factors associated with the venue, such as assault rates, trading hours and compliance with licence conditions.

''It is premature in the first fortnight in January but once we have considered the statutory review, we will be in a position to inform the public of our decision,'' Mr Souris said. Loading On Saturday 18-year-old Daniel Christie, whose assault in Kings Cross on New Year's Eve renewed debate about state and federal government responses to alcohol-fuelled violence, died in St Vincent's Hospital. Premier Barry O'Farrell is being urged to introduce uniform 3am closing times for hotels and 1am lockouts.