By Amanda Gillies
New Zealand’s most famous street is developing an ugly reputation as a dangerous place at night.
Auckland’s Queen St is a tourist attraction full of designer stores, popular theatres and Aotea Square.
But none of the drunken, violent scenes 3 News witnessed last night would make a tourist brochure.
Queen Street, just before midnight – there are pushes, shoving and foul language. We had just arrived, and already we see a woman bloodied after a girl-on-girl punch up.
Within minutes the police arrive with two cars and the group quickly disperses. No one is arrested.
Queen St is New Zealand's most famous street, and it is what is meant to be a tourist attraction.
But it's hard to see the attraction of an increasingly common scene - vomit on the road from a drunk reveller.
One security guard tried to stop us reporting.
But you couldn't hide the fact that people no longer feel safe on Queen St, after dark, on the weekend.
“There are so many people over drunk,” says concerned reveller Josh Love. “I don't feel safe. You walk down the street and people say ‘you want to fight?’ No.”
“We don't come into Queen Street because of this,” says Manesh Malani.
“There is a lot of violence, a lot of people who want to get into your face for no apparent reason,” says Samuel Martin.
A minute later someone was in our faces.
“I'm not violent,” the person says. “I'll get in your face and give you compliments but I'm not violent.”
This is just a standard Saturday night in Auckland, heading into winter. There's no big sporting event. No special festival.
Everywhere people stumbled out of bars and along the street. Some were in the mood for love, others were looking for a fight.
All night I have seen young drunk revellers. Some of them are underage; most of them are women wearing tight, revealing dresses. They have admitted to me they are binge drinkers getting drunk on a Friday and Saturday night. They come to Queen St because they like the attention.
“The girls here are completely young and drunk,” says Lana MacFarlane. “They are so much younger than I am. It's so awkward. You feel old at 21. I feel ridiculously old at 21.”
Most of the young party goers come here from the outer suburbs. They arrive late and many are already boozed, even drinking on the bus in.
That's flouting the law. So too is drinking alcohol on the street. But we saw plenty of that.
The Government says new liquor laws will make it harder for young people to get alcohol and get drunk.
The Alcohol Reform Bill will target youth binge drinking if it passes into law. Town will close up by 4am, at the latest.
But last night not everyone was convinced.
“People might start drinking earlier on, so you just might have the problems earlier in the day,” says Chelsea Ross. “So that's not necessarily going to fix the problem.”
3 News