Submitted by Shannon on 18th May, 05:52AM

Sue Maclellan, Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria – Liquor Licensing, cancelled the City of Stonnington Licensees Accord meeting after learning that Andrew Ranger, 21, university student and organiser of the MelbourneLockedOut.com movement was on the meeting's agenda to voice his concerns over the 2am lock-out trial.

Ranger, who is a resident of Stonnington, expressed his dismay over Maclellan's refusal to allow a resident to have his say regarding the intended 2am lock-out. "Given that the declaration was released just over a week ago it seems unfair that the public does not get to have an input," said Ranger.

Licensees Accord meetings are held once a month in council areas. The Stonnington meeting, initially scheduled for Wednesday 14 May at Arcadia Hotel on Punt Road, was moved by Maclellan to an undisclosed secret location at an unknown time after she learnt of Ranger's inclusion on the agenda.

Generally, attendees include Victoria Police, all licensees of the relevant area, spokespersons on alcohol and licensing-related issues and the general public. However, Maclellan has restricted the invite list for the secret meeting to only five licensees and four government representatives. Maclellan has not responded to Ranger's request to be reinstated on the agenda as a concerned citizen of Stonnington.

Ranger said he had been told that many licensees had not even been informed of the meeting's cancellation. "I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the venue operators turn up on Wednesday for the meeting only to find that they've been locked out of the process, just like the public has," he said.

Ranger formed MelbourneLockedOut.com with friends last Friday after learning of the 2am lock-out trial on popular youth networking website, Facebook. Since starting the movement, which calls for public and media scrutiny of the 2am lock-out trial, numbers have swelled to over 100,000 concerned individuals and the movement's website has received over 30,000 hits in the past few days.

MelbourneLockedOut.com is planning a non-violent, drug and alcohol free protest, to be held on Melbourne's Parliament House steps on Friday 30 May at 5:00 pm. "Support for the protest has been overwhelming – every day I get emails and Facebook messages from people I don't even know saying that all their friends are behind us," said Ranger.

"We're expecting thousands of protesters, all dressed in white, standing on the steps of Parliament to make their voices heard. Melbourne's unique culture deserves to be preserved – at least until the next election".

JOIN THE FIGHT HERE!