Premier John Brumby is expected to announce today drinkers will be banned from entering Melbourne city bars, pubs and clubs after 2am.
The announcement will be the latest in a series of moves to combat binge drinking and alcohol-fuelled violence in inner-Melbourne.
The State Government will order more than 500 late-night licence holders to impose the curfew in a three-month trial to stop pub crawls that lead to violence, News Ltd reported today.
The main targets are the city nightclub precincts but will cover four local government areas of Melbourne, Yarra, Stonnington and Port Phillip councils.
Publicans who fail to enforce the policy will be hit with fines of up to $6800.
News Ltd reports said smokers who left drinking establishments after 2am to light up on the streets would be banned from returning.
A government taskforce is believed to be responding to calls from police to clamp down on gangs of young drunks moving from pub to pub and causing problems.
Australian Hotels Association Victoria chief executive officer Brian Kearney said it tentatively supported a 2am lockout, with the proviso that "low-risk'' venues be excluded.
"The success or otherwise of these lock-outs is very much dependent on the terms and conditions that apply to them and we would be hoping that the director of Liquor Licensing has some flexibility in the way she intends to apply them,'' Mr Kearney said.
He said the association would be looking to negotiate "reasonable terms and conditions'' regarding the lock-out, and also the types of venues it would apply to.
"Certainly from the pub point of view, because overwhelmingly these issues of late night violence, anti-social behaviour, are related to late night clubs and nightclubs,'' he said.
"Pubs are concerned to the extent that they might be unreasonably targeted in some situations and that's why we'd be looking for low-risk venues to be excluded from the lockout."
Matthew Burgess, The Age