Sydneysiders showed their determination to keep their city open on Sunday, February 21, with more than 15,000 people rallying in the streets to #KeepSydneyOpen. Ironically, the protest happened the morning after Melbourne’s White Night, which saw more than 600,000 people pass through the Victorian capital between 7pm and 7am, drinking, eating and dancing till the sun came up.
Drawing Sydneysiders young and older, casually interested or passionately engaged, the Keep Open Sydney rally crowd showed remarkable diversity. Not only young partiers marched from Belmore Park along Elizabeth Street to Hyde Park, but also baby boomers, long-time residents, students, creatives, live music fans and business owners alike.
Numerous prominent Australian musicians and music industry figures turned up to voice their support through speeches and performances. DJ and radio presenter Nina Las Vegas quipped, “You can’t expect an Olympic swimmer to win gold without pools, right?” continuing, “These lockout laws are destroying Sydney nightlife.”
Dave Faulkner of The Hoodoo Gurus said that the venues he’d cut his teeth in “couldn’t operate under the current lockout laws” and pointed out that, according to a 2011 Ernst and Young study, “live music in bars, pubs and clubs in NSW contributed nearly $400 million dollars to the state’s economy, with a net flow on of $200 million into the wider community.”
Isabella Manfredi, lead singer of Sydney band The Preatures, said, “The most distressing thing about these laws for me is that the way they were implemented with no consultation with the community. It took a whole lot of different venues, small businesses and entrepreneurs both young and old and lumped them in together under one blanket culture. And they called that culture anti-social.” Both Royal Headache and Art vs. Science performed live sets, before Future Classic's Chad Gillard dropped Tom Budin's recently released banger 'Mike Baird'.
The brains behind the rally, Tyson Koh, founder and campaign manager of Keep Sydney Open, spoke passionately and rationally to wrap things up. “We believe that safety and late night socialising aren’t mutually exclusive. With considered, innovative policies we can achieve a desired outcome together and keep Sydney open.”
Images: Kimberley Low.