Chief Minister Andrew Barr has promised that his government will never change last drinks or closing times, after clubs raised fears that the measures may be revived after October's election.
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The ACT government on Tuesday abandoned the most controversial aspects of its proposed liquor reforms: changed closing times, last drinks, and dramatically increased fees of between 300 to 500 per cent for venues open past 3am.
Despite the government expressly ruling out the measures, clubs remained fearful that they could be reconsidered if the government was re-elected.
Keep Canberra Open contacted its supporters to confirm a planned rally this weekend would still go ahead, and sought a written guarantee from the government that the changes, dubbed "lockouts by stealth", had been dropped permanently.
Mr Barr provided that written guarantee directly to the Keep CBR Open Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon. He posted:
"We have ruled out making changes to last drinks or closing times - now and in the future."
Chief Minister Andrew Barr was against any change to closing times or post-3am fee increases, and had previously ruled out Sydney-style lockouts.
The proposal was being pushed by Police and Health Minister Simon Corbell, but was stymied by the position of Mr Barr, and by Greens balance-of-power MLA and cabinet minister Shane Rattenbury.
Asked whether Mr Rattenbury's position had killed off the proposal on Monday, Mr Barr told ABC Radio:
"Without me it wasn't going to get up, and that's the most important thing in the decision."
The police union slammed the back-down on Wednesday, saying the government had placed "profits before safety".
Australian Federal Police Association president Angela Smith said it was a "really disappointing direction" for the government.
Senior Constable Smith, who has previously worked in the city beats team, said most Canberrans did not understand the prevalence of violence in late-night Civic.
"There just doesn't seem to be any interest to effectively reduce alcohol-fuelled violence in the CBD," she said.
"It seems to me to be profits before safety, profits of the hotels and the pubs and clubs rather than community and police safety."
"I think that's just so disappointing."
But Keep Canberra Open spokesman Ryan Sabet, a partner at nightclubs Academy and Mr Wolf, cautiously welcomed the decision.
Early on Wednesday, he urged Mr Barr to provide a written guarantee that the reforms would not be reconsidered.
"I think it's a good first step but we'll be looking for a longer-term commitment from the government, were it to be re-elected," he said.
Keep Canberra Open member Leigh Barnett, general manager of the Treehouse Bar, said the consultation process had been poor.
He said his venue was thrown into serious uncertainty by the proposed licensing changes.
"As individuals, club owners, club managers, we felt that the consultation process didn't adequately take place," Mr Barnett said.
The Canberra Liberals have previously ruled out introducing lockouts or dramatically increasing post-3am fees if elected.
Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said he would rely on extra police, restoring police funding, better public transport, and coward punch laws to reduce alcohol-fuelled violence.
Mr Hanson said the chief minister had thrown his police minister "under a bus" on ABC Radio on Wednesday morning.
"It's fundamentally clear that this is a backflip based on the fact that we've got an election in a couple of months," he said.
"Andrew Barr now is back-flipping and putting Simon Corbell under a bus, blaming Simon Corbell for these proposals when they're part of a cabinet team.
"No one's buying it."
