‘Everything in Sydney is now illegal, including fun’: city entrepreneur
Two years into the lock-out, ‘the soul of the city has been destroyed’, claims Sydney businessman Matt Barrie in a 8000-word epic rant that has gone viral.
In the scathing report he calls Sydney a ‘ghost town’ at the hands of the nanny state going too far.
The Chief Executive at Freelancer.com describes his despair that the city is losing its identity as the State Government introduces more regulations and fines.
Not a day goes by without yet another bar, club, hotel, restaurant or venue closing, he said.
“Walk up Bayswater Road, Oxford Street or the Golden Mile and club after club is closed; not just after 1.30am, but permanently.
“A few months ago the perennial Flinders bar in Darlinghurst closed. Then the century-old Exchange Hotel shut down, which held six venues including the Phoenix, live music hall Spectrum, and the upstairs pool hall Q-Bar. Following that, the evergreen Goldfish bar in Kings Cross. Then Soho.”
It’s not just the economic damage to Sydney’s bars, pubs and clubs, musicians, entertainers, hospitality staff, restaurants and cafes. It’s the whole economy around it- take-away and convenience stores, hotels and the tourism industry, Mr Barrie said.
He said taxi drivers reported their takings were down by 40 per cent because of their nighttime fares are disappearing – even before the impact of rideshare app Uber.
Mr Barrie cites research which documented the curfew’s impact, with a report claiming King's Cross foot traffic fell a massive 84 per cent between 2012 and 2015 and the closure of about 42 bars, clubs and small businesses.
“Sydney used to be a laid back place where we’re welcome the world to come throw a shrimp on the barbie. Now if you do that and someone takes offence to the smoke, the NSW Government will fine you $1,100 for the first offence, $2,200 for the second and probably put you on a registered barbecue offenders list.
“In Sydney, you can’t even have a beer in the sun enjoying a game of lawn bowls anymore without the NSW Government wanting to shut it down. You can’t go for a workout in the park without the Government imposing a curfew.”
With the war on drinking, partying, barbecues and fitness in full flight, ‘the war on kebabs was the obvious next target’, Mr Barrie said.
Despite operating until 4am on weekends for over a decade, Mr Barrie said the City of Sydney is now banning the sale of kebabs after midnight.
“Yes, there is now a lockout law for kebab eating.”
He cites lockout failures in other major Australian cities, and is baffled as to why the NSW government haven’t cancelled their own lock-out.
The 2am lockout in Victoria was cancelled after independent auditor KPMG found it had actually increased violence, he said.
“The Queensland 3am lockout and 5am closures were shown by the Queensland Auditor-General to cost the state economy $10 million. I emailed the NSW Audit Office in July 2014 asking if they were tracking the effect on the economy as both Victoria and Queensland did, but was told curiously that they had no plans to.”
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