A NANNY STATE AND THE DEATH OF SYDNEY.
With all the chaos and confusion in State Government we may as well declare a people’s autonomous state, no-one knows what they’re doing so we might as well run it ourselves! As the capital city of NSW, Sydney was the place to be, we had world class events, a stunning city and a pumping night life, no more. With the lockout laws and extreme disruption to our transport system, nobody wants to come and visit anymore. We have pushed all our tourists to neighbouring states and our locals indoors. With a lack of infrastructure to accommodate world class events, shut down venues, curfews and exuberant prices, Sydney is not a viable option for a sustainable tourist destination.
It is an utter shame that we are so backwards thinking in this city, we see things on a short term basis and never see the bigger picture. But it’s not only the abhorrent governing of this city that’s killed it, it’s also the fact that Sydney siders have no conviction. We tend to whine about all the negative changes but have no conviction to stand up and fight for our beliefs, even though such changes impact our lives so much. Lock out laws have impacted our social lives, anti-smoking laws turned smokers into pariahs, amongst all the restrictions where do our civil liberties lay? When do my rights to make informed mature decisions come into focus. It seems as though a handful of bad choices made by some moronic imbeciles, have resulted in the punishment of a whole City, punishments that have been detrimental on a social scale.
The thing is there are always reactions to actions, one action brings about a reaction and so forth, creating a snowball effect. We create lock out laws which in turn impact night venues, then affecting day-time small business, with no revenue and ludicrous rental costs and high taxes, small business can’t operate. So venues shut down, tourists have nothing to do and nothing to see as promotors stop bringing acts and exhibits, hotels lay empty and bars and restaurants have no patrons. Why would anyone choose to visit such a dull City. Locals are just as much affected, we choose to go out less therefore not supporting our local economies as much as we used to and our favourite local clubs are no longer there. Since we’re trying to make major changes to our infrastructure why not make changes that help put us back on the global map, well because we have small minded people running the show.
On top of all of the above our government now plans to bring in new laws placing sanctions on Airbnb operators. Restrictions will now be placed on owners of short term rental properties allowing strata to have more control to ban owners from letting their homes for more than 180 days a year if they don’t actually live on site. So once again all I see here is another opportunity to crush small enterprise, isn’t it enough to have high taxes? The wonderful thing about Airbnb is that it gives tourists the chance to stay longer in a particular destination due to Airbnb’s competitive pricing. I mean if I can stay 5days longer in one place because I can afford to, due to my accommodation costs, then why wouldn’t I, the longer I stay the longer I spend. It’s always about immediate financial gain, not the long term, then when the government needs more money, they just create another tax.
So now Sydney is left desolate, boring and broke. Where once vibrant and exciting, I now see a sad and bleak existence. The one thing no one has even contemplated is the fact that on a social level when we stop constant growth and human movement, ie travel, we slow our evolutionary progress. When we have an evolving door of human traffic, we ultimately have an exchange of new ideas and ideals. When we slow that traffic down drastically, we no longer have that source of constant cultural and intellectual growth. We come to a social standstill, as humans we absolutely need that kind of interaction with others and being so isolated in Australia makes that difficult especially if we kill our tourism industry.
Love Lexi XXX
