NSW Premier Mike Baird Is Getting Ripped a New One After Defending Sydney's Lockout Laws

Mike Baird is having a bit of a shit one. In response to the recent groundswell of support for a campaign to overturn Sydney's controversial lockout laws, the NSW Premier took to Facebook yesterday to defend the legislation and give the rabble a piece of his mind.

It did not go well.

Putting aside how you might feel about the lockouts, dismissing the legitimate concerns of your constituents, aka the people who put you into office in the first place, as "hysteria", seems like kind of a dick move. And we're not the only ones who feel this way. As of this writing, Baird's post has attracted more than 16,000 angry comments — and that's not including the thousands deleted by his social media team. Shockingly, people haven't taken too kindly to that, either.

Points raised by the commenters mirror the arguments of anti-lockout campaigners like Keep Sydney Open — that the laws have seriously damaged the city's nightlife and threaten the livelihood of hospitality workers. The hashtag #CasinoMike has been taken up en masse, in part to connote the connection between political donations made by the owners of the Star Casino and upcoming Bangaroo Complex, and the fact that both have been conveniently excluded from the lockout zone (24-hour licence ahoy). It's also sparked some fairly excellent memes.

Nailed it @SamanthaGroth #casinomike pic.twitter.com/PzGrFjVuvH

— Charlie Ellison (@chellison_) February 9, 2016

Several commenters have also linked to this recently published article in the Sydney Morning Herald questioning the veracity of Baird's claim that assaults have dropped by 60 percent in King's Cross and 42.2 percent in the CBD as a result of the new laws. According to Don Weatherburn, director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, assaults were already in decline prior to the laws being introduced, and that when you take this into account, the figures are closer to 45 percent and 20 percent, respectively. And don't get us started on what's happening to Newtown.

Meanwhile, Keep Sydney Open has amassed more than 25,000 likes on Facebook and 38,000 signatures on their online petition.

Image: NSW Government/YouTube.