NSW Police and liquor inspectors began a festive season crackdown on drunken behaviour on Sydney's party boats on Saturday night at Darling Harbour.
Boats at King Street wharf will be targeted, with Deputy Premier and Hospitality Minister Troy Grant promising continued raids by liquor inspectors to ensure boat operators meet liquor licence conditions.
"With the warmer weather, end-of-year celebrations and summer around the corner we want to send a strong message to all party boat operators and we don't want to see tragedy on our harbour," Mr Grant said.
He said licensees had to comply with responsible service of alcohol rules to avoid passengers becoming intoxicated, and have enough staff on board to prevent drunken violence by passengers, including when they disembark.
The MV Constellation this year became the first licensed boat in NSW to be penalised by the liquor regulator for allowing intoxication.
The crackdown comes as a parliamentary review of last summer's tough alcohol violence laws concluded they should continue.
But the law and safety committee, chaired by retiring Nationals MP George Souris, recommended the Baird government consider an alternative to the freeze on new liquor licences that is in place across Sydney's entertainment district, to allow live music venues to open.
It also called for the government to stop issuing taxi licences with a 3am changeover, which coincides with last drinks, and for police to consider the safety issues caused by 1.30am lockouts from venues that are separating patrons from their friends and belongings when they are refused re-entry.
The committee was concerned at the safety risk posed to young women in the city and Kings Cross, after submissions from multiple women who had been put in "a very sticky situation because of the lockout laws".
Anna Garliss said she put her purse down with her phone inside where her friends were dancing and stepped outside a city nightclub for fresh air but was refused re-entry. "I was stuck on the street by myself with no phone, ID or money," she told the inquiry.
NSW Police said club security staff should remind patrons leaving after 1.15am they can't return.
The liquor regulator has been asked to monitor the frequency of warehouse parties in Sydney that may have been caused by the city lockouts, with the inquiry concerned at reports of an increase in underground rave parties.
An independent review of the impact of the laws should be held after the summer of 2014-15, based on crime data, the committee said.
