Lockouts. They're everywhere.
South Australia has their late night code,
Melbourne tried and binned lockouts years ago,
and this year QLD instituted their own lockout laws statewide.
"Hey hey! Ho Ho! These lockout laws have got to go!"
This is despite massive protests over what some say
is the death of the Sydney nightlife
after they passed lockout laws in 2014.
"We're adults - we know when we can go out, we know when we can go home."
An estimated 20 Sydney venues have closed down
and foot traffic in key areas has fallen by 20%.
But a review proposes rolling back the laws
to restore vibrancy and employment opportunities.
"I particularly lament, with respect Minister,
this lockout, which has taken the guts out of the nightlife of Sydney."
The changes would be in the Sydney lockout zone
So, what now? Well, the government will respond in the next month
but it's clear the Premier is under pressure on the issue,
with some MPs, including his deputy, wanting even looser laws.
It remains to be seen whether these changes will appease the party goers,
venue owners, and the general young folk of NSW.
One of those young folk who really does care about the effect the lockout laws will have
is Tyson Koh from Keep Sydney Open.
We spoke to him earlier, as you can tell by the sunlight.
Tyson, what's your opinion of the review?
I think it's really fantastic that Mr Callinan
has acknowledged that there was a problem with the legislation
and therefore it needed to be pushed back.
I think it's fantastic that he's given special consideration
for live music venues.
However, it doesn't really go far enough.
30 minutes, it's not really going to make that much of a difference.
Certainly not to punters, and certainly not to all the people
around the world who are watching what's going on in Sydney with a keen eye.
Now a recent poll showed that 3/4 of NSW youth
actually support the lockout laws.
Is your group out of step do you think? Do you still represent the voices of young people in this city?
Well there's a couple of issues there.
Firstly, a lot of people have raised issues with how
that poll was potentially conducted,
about where it was conducted, because we are essentially talking about an inner city area of Sydney,
not all of NSW, where apparently the poll was conducted.
Also there's a few other issues of methodology of that poll that were raised too.
But we're going to take it on face value and assume that mayvbe only 25% of young people
are in favour of getting rid of the lockouts,
and so that's why Keep Sydney Open challenged
these young people to hit the streets and have a rally of their own.
We gave them a month to do so.
They've got until October 1 if they want to take us up on that challenge.
Tyson, you're standing there in the heart of Kings Cross,
and I'm wondering if some of the damage of the lockout laws irreparable already?
Look some of it is, and some of it isn't.
Kings Cross as an area was one of the world's most famous red light districts
and it's definitely not going to go back to the state that it was pre-lockout.
I do acknowledge that some people think that that's a good thing.
But other people think that a real part of our culture and history has been lost.
That is up for debate.
In terms of whether Sydney's nightlife is beyond repair,
I wouldn't be wasting my time if I thought that it was.
There's definitely things that we can do to make it better.
It can actually get a lot worse too,
so I think it's really important that we get the balance right,
and we actually do better than what the review suggests,
and we try and implement solutions that ensure vibrancy late at night.
Also safety as well - it's definitely possible.
It's interesting that you talk about implementing solutions,
because this is essentially a review - it may not actually lead to any changes.
What was the point of it all? Do you have faith that things will change?
There's just so many people who have suffered too much.
I think government would be very remiss to
not acknowledge that.
And there's been a lot of indications behind the scenes
and even in public that they have.
This is an international city, there's a lot at stake here.
We've got another city that's only an hour's flight away, Melbourne,
that has a late-night culture that is the envy of many cities around the world,
and that's what we want to strive for.
The Callinan review says that Melbourne isn't as good of a comparison for Sydney
as Newcastle is, and I think a lot of people are raising their eyebrows at that.
Certainly Keep Sydney Open is.
We want to be more like Melbourne, more like London and New York and Tokyo
and all those other great world cities,
not Newcastle - no offence to Novocastrians,
but we think that their city could do with a lot of improvement too.
All right, Tyson Koh, thankyou so much for your time.
Appreciate it guys!