NSW Attorney General says new one-punch laws working

The new one-punch laws are part of a wider suite of changes that have greatly reduced alcohol-fuelled violence, the New South Wales Attorney General has said ahead of his visit to Wollongong today.

Brad Hazzard has rejected concerns that mandatory eight-year jail sentences for fatal one-punch attacks will chew up court time, saying the law needed to change for people like the parents of Bowral's Thomas Kelly.

The Southern Highlands teenager was killed by a king hit in Kings Cross in 2012, prompting mandatory sentencing to be introduced as part of a tough stance on alcohol-fuelled violence.

He says the new laws seem to be working.

"In Sydney we've seen a massive reduction in violence, and my view is sometimes the strict technical legal positions have to be modified by common sense that goes beyond legal technicalities.

"I'm very comfortable that the message to the broader community is that New South Wales is over senseless violence."

The minister will meet with Illawarra lawyers over lunch today to listen to their concerns, and bail laws and one-punch changes are expected to be high on the agenda.

"Our package of changes included the one punch laws and it's calmed down the [Sydney] CBD.

"I have friends at the police and a hospital and they're telling me things have quietened down.

"We don't treat these issues lightly and it's easy when you're not making the decision to attack.

"We struggled with it but we came up with this package and it seems to be working."

Mr Hazzard also defended new bail laws that mean people charged with a serious offence will find it harder to receive bail.

In the case of serious offences, the onus has shifted to the defendant to prove they should be granted bail.

"I have no doubt that needed to be changed, and they [defendants] now have to convince the court on behalf of the community they should be allowed out, and I don't see that as a big deal.