The Inquiry Into "Sydney’s Music Venue Crisis" Started This Week - Here's Where We're At

The parliamentary inquiry into Sydney's night time economy kicked off in Sydney this week, with both the controversial city's lockout laws (which have been in place since 2014) and the subsequent "music venue crisis" a key topic in the discussion. 

Here's what's happened so far. 

Shadow Minister John Graham dubs it "Sydney's music venue crisis"

Shadow Minister for Music and the Night Time Economy, John Graham, has condemned the state of Sydney's live music scene, sharing that "new evidence from the City Of Sydney that of the 22 primary purpose music venues that existed in 2014 in the City Of Sydney Local Government Area, only 11 venues remain," adding that “This is further evidence of Sydney’s music venue crisis". 

“Alarmingly, it is the mid-sized venues that we are losing," said Graham. "These are the venues most likely to feature local and emerging new acts and more affordable concerts for audiences."

“I call on the NSW Government to implement the plan recommended by the last year’s bipartisan parliamentary music inquiry." Find out more about the music inquiry here.

Jenny Morris says the lockout laws has made Sydney a "laughing stock"

According to ABC, artist and APRA AMCOS Non-executive Writer Director and Chair Of The Board Jenny Morris has said that the city's 1.30am lockout laws have made Sydney a "laughing stock" and that the flow-on effects have driven artists to look for career opportunities overseas rather than at home.

"It's not such a good thing that they feel like they have to find their success offshore," she said. "We have lost the ability to give our creators that confidence."

Lockout laws have taken "the oxygen out of Sydney’s night-time economy" 

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore shared that while the introduction of lockout law were "a circuit-breaker at the time", they have since "taken the oxygen out of Sydney’s night-time economy". It was also revealed by council that the city had seen had a 10% drop in visitors aged 35 or less since 2013, as well as suggesting a 50% drop in 'number of venues dedicated to live music'.

It's not just live music venues that are suffering

City of Sydney Liberal councillors Christine Forster and Craig Chung have spoken about the impact the laws have on the hospitality and retail industries, including the closure of shops and restaurants, as well as highlighting facts like that "an overseas visitor is unable to order a single whiskey or a cocktail in the bar of an international hotel at one minute past midnight" due to alcohol restrictions.

Alcohol-fuelled violence isn't gone, it's just moved

City of Sydney Labor councillor Linda Scott has raised that perhaps alcohol-fuelled violence isn't gone, it's just moved to other places in the city, rather than being centralised within the Kings Cross district. The Young Liberals also share this opinion, saying that alcohol-related violence has now moved from the CBD to areas around the city like the Inner West district.