CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Last week Brisbane played host to the country’s only music industry conference – held annually in Fortitude Valley, Australia’s very own South By Southwest.
In its 18th year, BIGSOUND was by all accounts a with over 153 showcasing artists and thousands of locals being treated to life music for four days.
However, with this much live music and people enjoying cold drinks well after bedtime on schoolnights, southern guests were absolutely shocked as to how even organisers were able to pull this off without being shut down by whingeing neighbours and police.
This comes as the NSW Premier announces plans to maybe repeal the lock-out laws to breathe air into Sydney’s crippled nightlife, state government policymakers are now looking for new ways to prevent another men dying at the hands of other drunk men – which happened two times five years ago.
Sydney, unlike Brisbane, is currently unable to utilise its inner-city for any cultural endeavours that weren’t being championed by Crown or Star Casino. Or some sort of state government lighting show.
This comes down to people sometimes being violent when they drink. The question now facing NSW Premier Berejiklian, is how to prevent this without shutting down every single pub in the city and replacing them with poorly built residential high-rises.
One model that is being looked at is Melbourne’s 24-hour public transport system, alongside a nightlife culture that isn’t socially competitive and left at the hands of an exhausted bouncer who enjoys seeing one partygoer out of a group of ten being left outside to start shit.
However, given the infrastructural demands that this option would require. The more likely model being looked at is doing what Brisbane does. Filling the Valley with cops and arresting people that start shit.
“Hmmm..” said Berejiklian in a press conference this morning.
“I totally forgot you could use cops to do stuff OTHER than walking sniffer dogs around” she said.
“This whole idea of arresting people who are violent might be the way forward”
