Premier Mike Baird defends lockout laws after claims they’re killing Sydney’s nightlife
TOP DJ Alison Wonderland says lockout laws have made Sydney a world laughing stock, accusing Premier Mike Baird of arrogance by not listening to anyone younger than him.
NSW
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TOP DJ Alison Wonderland says lockout laws have made Sydney a world laughing stock, telling Premier Mike Baird:’You obviously don’t listen to anyone younger than you’.
The outspoken Sydney DJ took to Facebook today to blast the Premier after he described as ‘hysterical’ claims Sydney nightlife had been decimated as a result of the controversial laws.
“You obviously don’t listen to anyone younger than you, so perhaps you’ll listen to someone who travels abroad more than you,” Wonderland told Mr Baird in her post.
“Our beloved Sydney’s reputation has taken a f*****g battering & words can’t explain how embarrassed I am that my home, the most beautiful and once most vibrant city in the world has become a laughing stock internationally.”
“Everywhere I go from mainland Europe to middle America people are asking me if it’s true that Sydney has become a nanny state and voice their genuine concerns about visiting it.
“Those who have recently are vowing not to return. Yet Melbourne (sans lockout) moves ahead safely and prosperously.
“I miss the feeling of being able to discover music whilst exploring Sydney. That’s what made me fall in love with what I do. Sydney is now a ghost town.
“Go on… keep arrogantly ignoring us. It seems to have worked well for your predecessors.”
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Mr Baird took to Facebook late yesterday to post a 463-word response to recent criticism of the laws, imposed in 2014 after the one-punch deaths of teenagers Daniel Christie and Thomas Kelly. His post attracted more than 9000 replies, many critical of his stance.
“Some say this makes us an international embarrassment, except assaults are down by 42.2 per cent, and there is nothing embarrassing about that,” Mr Baird said.
“Violence had spiralled out of control, people were literally being punched to death in the city, and there were city streets too dangerous to stroll down on a Friday night.” Mr Baird said assaults are down by over 60 per cent in Kings Cross.
The Premier’s social media manager today denied Facebook users’ claims his team is deleting thousands of critical comments after Mr Baird’s post.
“It is absolutely not true we are deleting posts. Not one single post. Facebook’s profanity filter may be hiding some, but zero manual deletes. We would normally delete abusive or threatening posts but we have let this thread run totally free,” he told news.com.
Mr Baird returned fire yesterday after Matt Barrie, chief executive of job-seeking website Freelancer, posted a scathing opinion piece to the social networking site LinkedIn.
The article, Would the last person in Sydney please turn the lights out? has since been viewed more than 900,000 times and was republished on major news sites.
Mr Barrie says the lockout has “decimated” the Kings Cross nightclub district, while the 1.30am curfew “deliberately aims to kill the trade of any business that operates at night”.
“Every week, another venue or restaurant closes. The soul of the city has been destroyed,” he said.
The owner of Paddington bar and restaurant, 10 William St, has also expressed his outrage after his business was probed over its liquor licensing on Saturday night, with officers drawn to a promotional sign which said “free wine”.
“According to NSW police force, our blackboard with what we are pouring by the glass is promoting unsavoury, antisocial behaviour,” owner Giovanni Paradiso posted to Instagram on Sunday.
“Sydney, what the f*** is happening?”.
Police said no action was taken against the business although breaches were detected regarding its operation as a bar, and not primarily as a restaurant.
Despite the public outcry, Baird is refusing to budge.
“It is going to take a lot for me to change my mind on a policy that is so clearly improving this city,” he said.
“This is the greatest city in the world and it is now safer and more vibrant than ever.” He said he was awaiting data from a detailed review of the laws, to be conducted in the coming months.
CITY ISN’T DYING: BAIRD’S FB STATEMENT
Let’s start with a statistic about Sydney’s nightlife that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per cent in the CBD since we introduced the “lock-out laws”.
And they’re down by over 60 per cent in Kings Cross.
But… didn’t we achieve this by shutting down the whole city and killing its nightlife?
Well, one last statistic: the number of small bars in Sydney has more than doubled in the same time period.
There has been a growing hysteria this week about nightlife in Sydney.
The main complaints seem to be that you can’t drink till dawn any more and you can’t impulse-buy a bottle of white after 10pm.
I understand that this presents an inconvenience. Some say this makes us an international embarrassment.
Except, assaults are down by 42.2 per cent.
And there is nothing embarrassing about that.
From the outset, these laws have been about fixing a serious problem. Violence had spiralled out of control, people were literally being punched to death in the city, and there were city streets too dangerous to stroll down on a Friday night. The community was rightly outraged. I was personally outraged. I met face to face with the families of victims. You don’t need to see that sort of pain too often to realise there is a problem that needs fixing. And the Government was determined to act.
We introduced laws to curb violence and to eliminate drinking ghettos by redistributing the nightlife across the city, making the whole city more vibrant.
Now, some have suggested these laws are really about moralising. They are right. These laws are about the moral obligation we have to protect innocent people from drunken violence.
Doctors right across the city are now telling us that they are seeing far less emergency room presentations on the weekends. Transport workers are telling us that the trains are safer. Small bars and restaurants are opening across Sydney. And residents across the city, particularly women, are telling us they feel safer walking home at night.
At this stage, some of the evidence is anecdotal. But lots of hard data is starting to come in. And it is all telling a similar story.
Over the coming months a detailed review into the effects of the lock-out laws will be undertaken. I await this work with interest. But as I’ve said before, it is going to take a lot for me to change my mind on a policy that is so clearly improving this city.
Now some, who wish to define our city by one street on Kings Cross, make the hysterical claim that Sydney is dead.
They couldn’t be more wrong. This is the greatest city in the world and it is now safer and more vibrant than ever.
Long Live Sydney.
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