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The new NSW premier says we are “kids” who need the lockout laws to keep us safe

The newly appointed NSW premier Gladys Brejiklian has made her first public comments on the Sydney lockout laws – and it ain’t pretty.

Gladys

The new NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has made her first comments on Sydney lockout laws, and it ain’t pretty.

Speaking with cool kids on the block, KIIS FM last week, the premier says she is “kind of at a comfortable place” with the laws.

Berejiklian was sworn in as Mike Baird’s successor last Monday following his sudden resignation the previous week. However, those who saw a ray of sunshine burst through the hole that Baird’s departure left in the once great tapestry that was Sydney’s nighttime economy will be sorely disappointed.

It appears that Berejiklian is quite satisfied with Baird’s work in office, saying that the laws were providing a “safe environment especially for young people.”

She then went on to say this monstrosity of a statement:

“[The lockout laws mean] people can enjoy live music at a reasonable hour but also protect young people. Mums and dads in the suburbs are worried about what their young kids are doing when they’re having a good time, and you don’t want to stay up—well I mean, parents stay up worrying anyway—but you want to make sure you’ve got a government in action that’s really thinking about what we can do to keep kids as safe as possible. And also send the right message: it’s not OK to have a culture where people think it’s cool to get drunk and hit people. I think the lockout laws have really forced people to think about those things and say ‘why have we accepted this for a long time, that it’s ok as a culture to do this?”

There are so many things wrong with that block of text but, uhh, did the premier of NSW just call us all kids….?

Of course, Keep Sydney Open have hit back against Berejiklian’s statement:

“Premier, we’re not kids,” replied KSO spokesperson Scott Mitchell in a video (which you can see below). “And the government has to stop making laws as if we are.”

Mitchell then urges all to contact the premier to let her know what we think. We urge you too as well.

See the full statement from Berejiklian below:

“I’m kind of at a comfortable place with [the lockouts] now because we had an independent report that said ‘come on, you can relax them a little bit,’ and we did. My basic philosophy in life is let people exercise their freedom, so long as that freedom doesn’t impinge on other people. But when it does impinge on other people, governments should be there to protect people, and I really support having a safe environment especially for young people.

I think you can’t say it’s all black or white, you’ve got to accept that protecting people is the best and most important job for government. That’s why I feel that where we’ve got to with the lockout laws is a good balance, because it means people can enjoy live music at a reasonable hour but also protecting young people. Mums and dads in the suburbs are worried about what their young kids are doing when they’re having a good time, and you don’t want to stay up—well I mean, parents stay up worrying anyway—but you want to make sure you’ve got a government in action that’s really thinking about what we can do to keep kids as safe as possible. And also send the right message: it’s not OK to have a culture where people think it’s cool to get drunk and hit people. I think the lockout laws have really forced people to think about those things and say ‘why have we accepted this for a long time, that it’s ok as a culture to do this?”