These important findings include a 50.3 per cent decline in assaults causing actual bodily harm, and a 20.8 per cent reduction in sexual assaults. Behind every number is a tragic story – you only need to ask the emergency department doctors, police, paramedics and surgeons who have to clean up the awful toll. Success of this kind also means a massive reduction in financial costs. A single brain injury case will on average cost the government $12 million. The LNMAR report compared two days in December 2012 to two days in March 2015, as well as two other previous instalments in 2010. Comparing December and March is a fundamental error. As we all know, December is the build up to Christmas and usually involves much larger numbers of people going out – especially on Friday nights, when there are numerous work functions.

The data show this reduction in foot traffic for Friday nights, but not Saturday nights. On Saturday nights foot traffic at times was actually higher in 2015 (at 10pm and midnight) than in 2012. . Unfortunately, the report’s summary highlights figures like an 89 per cent reduction in foot traffic in Kings Cross, but this figure is for foot traffic at 4am, when the venues are shut. Reductions in foot traffic at 4am is the type of change you want to see. If you have more people attending the nightlife earlier, they spend more money and experience far less harm. This creates a city where nightlife is safer and more attractive to the vast majority of locals and tourists and the community uses fewer resources such as police, ambulances and hospitals.

The report also mistakenly talks about increases in foot traffic in Newtown, something which most uninformed commentators claim has come about from the trading restrictions. Data from reputable sources shows clearly that Newtown issues have been increasing since 2012, peaking in January 2015 and now declining. Source: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research The study also reports that: “Over half were going home (57 per cent), compared with 23 per cent in 2012 and 3 per cent in 2010”, but give no time of night for the interviews and how this tracked. The lack of detail is unacceptable; it should have been reported throughout the night. But we can see how misleading the headline is when looking at the detail: “Similar to 2012, nearly half of the respondents were leaving before midnight (43 per cent), with a quarter leaving between midnight and 2am (26 per cent)”. We need to know the responses at 10pm, 11pm and so on to know the true trends, but again, the shift to an earlier night-time economy is actually associated with increased trade and reduced harm. Both industry and ideologues talk about devastation of the city’s nightlife. It’s hard to see any of the devastation they are talking about: “There has been a large increase (169, +13 per cent) in the number of on-premises liquor licences in the precincts since 2012”.

These figures replicate the Newcastle experience, where 3.30am closing has been associated with both a massive reduction in assaults and a doubling of the number of licensed premises. There are many other problems in the City of Sydney report, but it is important to consider some of the propaganda that it has generated. There have been shameful media releases from industry mouthpieces and ideologues, incorporating astounding leaps of logic and rewriting of history. One example attributes the closing of a McDonald's outlet on the corner of George and Bridge streets to the late-night trading restrictions. In reality, a Herald article quoted McDonald's attributing the closure to a "strategic repositioning" and competition from other burger franchises. Late-night trading restrictions were not cited. It is vital that public policy be driven by reputable and rigorous research. The City of Sydney report is none of the above and should be retracted before it does further harm.

Peter Miller is Professor of Violence Prevention and Addiction Studies at Deakin University.