The authors of a new analysis of Sydney's lockout laws say it casts doubt on claims the controversial restrictions are making the city safer.

The analysis, done by two qualified economists and a mathematics post-doc for the Keep Sydney Open (KSO) movement, challenge some of the conclusions made by the most recent analysis from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).

This BOCSAR analysis is the one most often cited in debates about whether introducing 1:30am lockouts and 3:00am last drinks rules within declared inner-city areas has reduced overall violence.

The laws are supported by public health advocates including emergency department doctors and there are even calls to extend them across the state.

The two analyses use different models for interpreting the data, and you can read BOCSAR's defence of its approach here. These questions aside, one big difference is the BOCSAR analysis uses 16 months of post-lockout data (up to June 2015), but the KSO analysis incorporates 24 months (up to March 2016).

The KSO analysis is more up-to-date, though its data set is less detailed. It uses publicly available annual data instead of BOCSAR's monthly breakdown.

The KSO authors say the analysis shows:

The number of assaults in Sydney peaked in 2008 and had already been falling for years when the lockout laws were introduced.

The number of people visiting Kings Cross has dropped more significantly than the number of alcohol-fuelled assaults, meaning assaults per punter has gone up.

Violence has been pushed to areas outside the lockout zones, especially the Star Casino area in Pyrmont. Non-domestic assaults there are up 30 per cent and alcohol-fuelled violence is twice as high.

The number of alcohol-fuelled assaults in the rest of NSW has remained stable, but has gone up in Sydney precincts outside of the lockout zones.

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Whatsapp Alcohol-fuelled and non-domestic assaults in Sydney and NSW from 1996 to 2016.

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Whatsapp Changes in non-domestic, alcohol-fuelled assaults in Pyrmont 2008-2016.

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Whatsapp KSO's analysis of assault figures before and after the lockout laws.

Debate about the Sydney lockout laws is often framed as whether the costs of the laws, including the loss of vibrancy, are justified by the benefits of reduced violence.

This was the question posed by former High Court judge Ian Callinan in the review of the laws released last month. He found the benefits justified the costs, and leaned heavily on the BOCSAR analysis to conclude the lockout precincts had become cleaner and safer and there had been no increase in violence in the displacement areas around the lockout zone.

KSO submitted its analysis to the Callinan Review, but it appears to have been rejected after BOCSAR rebutted its method. In a section of the review that deals directly with KSO's claim the statistics show the lockout laws haven't worked, Callinan notes:

BOCSAR and [University of Newcastle] Professor Kypri assure me that the statistics of violent incidents show a marked decline after the Amendments and that they are accurate and robust. Those statistics are consistent with those for admissions to the emergency department at St Vincent's and with the day-to-day experience of police, ambulance and other health workers. (The catchment area of St Vincent's includes Bondi, Double Bay and Coogee).

Iyanoosh Reporter, one of the authors of the KSO analysis, said KSO was not given the opportunity to respond to BOCSAR's criticisms.

"We welcomed the process to engage directly with BOCSAR and St Vincent's [Hospital] on technical aspects of their evidence submitted to the review but were disappointed not to have been given the opportunity to respond," he said in a written statement.

"We would have liked to continue the conversation as number of fundamental concerns remain unresolved."

He said the assaults data was central to the debate over lockout laws and therefore the monthly breakdown should be made available to the public for analysis.

"[The first BOCSAR report] uses data to September 2014. These results are already over two years out of date but are still leaned upon as the only official publication on the effectiveness of the liquor law reforms on violence."

He says the old data is skewing public debate and misrepresenting the situation.

A second, more recent BOCSAR analysis using data to June 2015 has been submitted for review since at least June 2016, and a final version is not yet public.

You can read a short summary of its results here.