Visiting Prince Denied Entry to Brisbane Bar

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been just six weeks since Queensland’s ID-scanning laws were introduced.

It took just seven days for a group of French winemakers to make headlines after being turned away from The Gresham – one of the city’s most civilised bars – for carrying the wrong ID. On a Wednesday night, no less.

Three days after that, Jamie Webb of Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall blasted the policy on Facebook, estimating it had lost him $25,000 worth of sales in one week.

Then earlier this month, we assembled Webb and five other key nightlife operators to vent their frustrations. Their message was clear: the policy has admirable aims, but its execution is a debacle.

The point was rammed home last night, when Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and his entourage was turned away from Jade Buddha Bar on Eagle Street Pier just before midnight.

Frederik and his crew are visiting the city in advance of the Hamilton Island Race Week yachting regatta. His wife, Mary, is Australian by birth.

According to the Herald Sun, the group returned to Jade Buddha 15 minutes later with seven police officers from something called the “dignitary protection unit’’. The police pulled strings with the Office of Liquor and Gaming to give the group an exemption from the law.

Good for them. But what about all the tourists who aren’t part of a royal family, with the immense privileges that implies? What do they do? Here’s a guess: they go home and tell everyone they know how little fun they had in Queensland.