Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore was heckled by a fiery crowd after she declared Sydney’s nightlife settings for small bars and laneways were better than Melbourne’s, as she fought to defend her city-shaping legacy during a debate about the state of Oxford Street.
Telling Sydneysiders to wait one more year until Oxford Street was transformed into a fresh centre of cultural and nightlife activity, Moore told an audience at a lord mayoral candidate forum at the National Art School on Tuesday night that “the stars are aligning” for the city’s prime LGBTQ strip.
Clover Moore speaks at the City of Sydney Mayoral Candidates Forum.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“We did this work in 2007,” the lord mayor said, referring to establishing special late-night trading areas for Oxford Street, which occurred before the Baird government’s 2014 lock-out laws. Before that, she said, “the work we’d done in laneways and small bars had really sort of put us in front of Melbourne, so some said.”
That comment was met by loud laughter and heckles from the audience, some of whom screamed back: “What an absolute joke!” and “Lies! All lies!”
But Moore, sitting apart from other candidates on stage, insisted: “No, no, it’s true.”
“I just think, if I meet you all in about a year, you’re going to be very happy with what’s going on on Oxford Street,” she said, referring to the new bike path, the redevelopment of vacant blocks and planned refurbishments of Taylor Square.
Under pressure from other candidates over her legacy in the area, Moore has spent much of her local election campaign defending her council’s work on Oxford Street, saying that “city-making takes time”.
Labor, Liberal, Greens, Socialist and Libertarian party candidates for the role – many of whom are campaigning to “restore vibrancy” on the road – are placing the blame for Oxford Street’s stagnant state on Moore, who they say has let the area collapse.
“I remember when Surry Hills was super gay and super fun,” said libertarian candidate Sean Masters, who proposed removing under-construction bike lanes on Oxford Street and turning Taylor Square into “Tailor Square” with men’s fashion shows during Australian Fashion Week.
Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore blamed the nightlife troubles on a lack of affordability in the city.
“People keep telling us that affordability is the single biggest issue,” she said. “It just feels like a parallel universe where we’re fixated on whether one or two venues can stay open later.”
At the debate, 29-year-old Grace McNiven told candidates it was “frustrating to see old people keep Sydney really boring”, to rounds of applause.
“It feels like when we turn 18 in Sydney you’ve still got parents: your parents are the police, your parents are the people trying to tell you to shut up all the time. It is actually a problem.”
In response to that question, Sam Danieli said the council should join the chamber of commerce and Baiyu Jessica Cheng said she wanted council meetings broadcast on television.
The council elections are on September 14.
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clarification
Libertarian candidate Sean Masters proposed turning Taylor Square into “Tailor Square” with fashion shows during Australian Fashion Week, not every week.