Actor Sam Neill says NSW Government policies are damaging Sydney

A HOLLYWOOD star says the life has been “sucked out” of Sydney and the city has turned into a “pointless place” thanks to controversial laws.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge fades into the cloud on a foggy morning last month. Picture: John Appleyard

JURASSIC Park actor Sam Neill has launched into an extraordinary spray at the NSW Government saying policies championed by Premier Mike Baird had “sucked the life out of Sydney”.

The Logie award winning and Golden Globe nominated actor highlighted the impending ban of greyhound racing and the controversial bar lockout laws claiming they had turned Sydney into a “pointless place”.

Neill made the comments at an event on Monday to announce the annual Tropfest short film festival’s move from Centennial Park in Sydney’s east to Parramatta in the city’s west.

“I’m grumpy because Sydney used to be such a vibrant and exciting place in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” he said.

“There was an extraordinary culture but the vibrancy has been sucked out of the place.”

Neill said he, “particularly lamented,” the lockouts laws, which bars entry into licensed premises in Sydney’s CBD and Kings Cross after 1.30am and forces all venues to close at 3am because it had, “taken the guts out of the night-life of Sydney.”

“And Sydney without night-life is a pointless place.”

Actor Sam Neill (right), with director George Miller, made the comments at an event in Parramatta Park to announce the Tropfest film festival’s move to Sydney’s west. Picture: Richard Dobson

While violent assaults have fallen in liquor hot spots such as Kings Cross, critics of the lockouts say that is largely down to a multitude of venues shutting up shop.

The actor, who most recently starred in film Hunt for the Wilderpeople and the Australian drama The House of Hancock, based on the life of mining magnate Gina Rinehart, said that the laws had made Sydney as quiet as Adelaide.

“Every city needs a Kings Cross. London needs a Soho and Sydney needs Kings Cross.

“Instead of making the streets safe they’ve stopped the streets.”

Critics say the lockout laws have turned Kings Cross into a ghost town.

He said bringing the axe down on greyhound racing from July 2017, which the government did following widespread concerns about animal cruelty, would lead to the deaths of thousands of dogs.

“Shutting down the dogs is a crime, it’s a valuable part of working-class culture,” he said.

“Instead of cleaning up the dogs they’re killing the dogs. How many thousands of dogs will be destroyed and livelihoods lost? It’s regrettable and I’m grumpy about that.”

A review of the lockout laws in Kings Cross and the CBD is expected to be completed later this month.