Clover Moore Calls For Lockout Exemptions For Live Music Venues

City Of Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore has penned a long op-ed for Fairfax, announcing the City Of Sydney's own submission to the NSW Government's upcoming Liquor Law Review and calling for some dire changes to the lockout model, including exemptions for live music venues, performance areas and well-managed bars and pubs.

She labels the government's "blanket lockout" as a band-aid response to the city's alcohol-related violence problems — "It was a sledgehammer when what we needed was a well-researched, evidence-based, flexible response using transport, planning, licensing and police". 

read more: matt barrie again challenges lockouts — 'i doubt sydney will ever fully recover'

Moore's statement outlines 31 recommendations that the City Of Sydney have made to the NSW Government, ultimately scrapping the lockout laws and implementing new measures to return Sydney to a "safer and more balanced late-night economy". 

Among their recommendations: the idea that Sydney requires "more options open at night — museums, cafes, galleries and retail stores — activities that aren't centred around the consumption of alcohol", as well as that the 3am "last drinks" should be reconsidered for venues given factors such as their "compliance history, planning controls and economic, social and environmental factors".

She also mentions the need for adequate late-night transport and new "saturation zone" rules. 

Read Lord Mayor Clover Moore's full piece here.

Just hours ago, Sydney businessman Matt Barrie wrote another scathing essay as a follow-up to his viral 'Would The Last Person In Sydney Please Turn The Lights Out?' piece, taking apart the statistics that the NSW government used to defend the lockout laws.