The NSW Government is initiating a ’24-Hour Economy’ Strategy that will reinvigorate and revitalise Sydney’s night culture with the hopes of reasserting the city as the nightlife capital of the world.
Since the lockout laws were enacted throughout Sydney in 2014 the city’s once-thriving nightlife slowly dissipated with the arts, entertainment, and events industries suffering from suffocating legislation creating a metropolitan nanny state. With the Coronavirus pandemic in full swing, Sydney’s nightlife suffers further with virtually no events or entertainment to keep the last few sparks of hope for the city alive.
The NSW Government’s new action plan will aim to revamp Sydney’s nightlife economy claiming, “Sydneysiders deserve a 24-hour global city. And the world deserves a 24-hour Sydney.” It may sound too good to be true for all of us party-goers who have been missing Sydney’s thriving nightlife for years, however believe it or not, this news may become a reality in the near future.
The vision for the new 24-Hour Economy strategy is to boost the struggling arts, entertainment, events, and nightlife industries in Sydney as a response to the current pandemic and its crippling effects on these sectors. With hopes to “awaken hubs of community activity and entertainment across Greater Sydney,” this plan may be the lifeline Sydney has been waiting for.
“There is no denying Sydney is one of the best cities in the world, but we need to continue to do everything we can to ensure the jewel in our crown continues to shine both day and night,” said NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.
The NSW Government has outlined a list of ways in which they hope to implement the extensive plan through a series of steps lawmakers, government, and councils will take to get Sydney back on its feet. The main points of actions include:
- reviving the live music industry as well as arts and cultural events
- extend opening hours for businesses
- streamline liquor licences to support venues
- nurture talent in Sydney’s night-time industries
- extend late-night transport
- activate the marketing and promotion of night-industries
- re-establish Sydney as a vibrant global cultural destination
- re-align public perception of health, safety, and wellbeing within night-time hubs
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres said about the action plan, “We are going to turbocharge Sydney by working closely with industry and councils to implement the 39 actions across the Strategy’s five strategic pillars so the productivity of the night can rival that of the day to create more employment opportunities in arts, entertainment and cultural events throughout the evening.”
“COVID-19 has hit the tourism, hospitality and the arts sectors hard. This Strategy sets out a pathway to activate home-grown events that create safe opportunities for people to enjoy across Greater Sydney.”
This change in narrative is a stark difference from the NSW Government’s approach to live music in recent years mainly pertaining to music festivals with Gladys Berejiklian enforcing harsh “knee-jerk” restrictions on the music and events industry. With protests and petitions that followed under the name ‘Don’t Kill Live Music Australia’, NSW got a taste of the lock-out laws once again as events in the state started to cancel, and even shut down for good as a consequence of new regulations.
After killing Sydney’s once-thriving nightlife, followed by the deterioration of live music events and festivals in the state, it seems the NSW Government is noticing their hard-line approach is not only hurting the arts, entertainment, and nighttime industry but also the economy which relies on these sectors to bring wealth to the state. Finally, the government has woken up from its slumber to realise the potential for exponential growth in the greater Sydney area with a 24-Hour Economy plan that will be sure to place Sydney back on the map as the nightlife capital of the world.
Our very own founder of Fashion Industry Broadcast Paul G Roberts played an instrumental role in the turnaround of the NSW Government’s stance on Sydney’s night culture by founding ’24 Sydney’ three years ago. Implemented by the Desire Groupe, with an aim to make Sydney the World’s Best 24 Hour City, this campaign applied the appropriate resources, pressure and actions to re-establish Sydney as a leading international 24 hour City. Creating two feature documentaries that aim to “educate and awaken” Australia about the quest for a revived Sydney and the removal of the lock-out laws, Paul G Roberts along with the 24 Sydney campaign instilled a sense of hope in a city whose nightlife was slowly dying. It’s clear now that this campaign along with many others were a driving force in keeping Sydney alive by ultimately sparking the introduction of this new ’24 Hour Economy’ Strategy. You can watch ‘After the Lockouts: The Search for Sydney’s Missing Nightlife’ and ‘After The Lockouts II – Gladys’ War On Music‘ below.
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