On Wednesday night at the Lansdowne Hotel, the Night Time Industries Association (NITA) hosted an open forum aiming to discuss the dwindling Sydney nightlife and propose steps to revitalise what was once a booming Sydney industry.
They brought together a host of NSW MPs, City of Sydney councillors and leading representatives from cultural, music and hospitality sectors to discuss the NSW government’s increasingly tight grip on the arts in Sydney.
An open forum held in the Lansdowne Hotel brought together government officials and cultural representatives to discuss how to reinvigorate the dying nightlife of Sydney city.
The agenda aimed to discuss what is currently one of Sydney’s hottest topics of debate: what will it take to revitalise and restore Sydney’s nightlife and grow our night-time economy? NITA Head, Michael Rodrigues, took the opportunity to formally call on the Berejiklian government to put into place effective efforts to restore the nightlife that has steadily died under the last two state governments.
“We want to cut the red tape that’s been suffocating our city and build a new wave of energy, innovation, and creativity. The night is an asset, and it’s being wasted… It’s actually a miracle what has survived and thrived under such insane regulation. Get the conditions right, unleash Sydney’s creativity and the city will transform rapidly.”
They proposed a five-point-plan of policy solutions, to be presented to the NSW government. These included increasing “support and focus from Government on the night-time economy,” creating Better Balanced Regulation of Venues to “better manage noise issues for commercial operators,” which included “[streamlining] laws governing noise issues and [putting] in place guidelines for venue operators developed through consultation with industry and the community,” eliminating the red tape, and to invest more in the creative industries to help bolster the reinvigoration.
While these issues are finally being discussed and real change is being proposed at a governmental level, if you would like to add your voice, you can attend the Don’t Kill Live Music rally taking place this Thursday (Feb 21st).
