Hating Sydney is a tendency historically restricted to those who did not live here. We liked our city and they hated ours, and those who live here, for being so beautiful.
Now the haters walk among us, and those who join the anti-Sydney wailing bandwagon find no exaggeration beyond the pale, no hyperbole unworthy of sharing, no fact unable to be trumped by a feeling of ill-will. If you can't buy a neat scotch in the bar of your desire at 2am, this city is stuffed.
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Sydney band vs Sydney lockout laws
Art vs Science members Dan Mac and Jim Finn, outside Oxford Street's Exchange Hotel which shut in 2015, mourn Sydney's live music scene.
Among the gloom-leaders is Fred Schebesta, described on his tech company's website as "an author, blogger, award-winning digital marketer, media commentator, mentor and active member of the start-up community". He is also, if he does say so himself, "one of the nation's most respected entrepreneurs".
I can think of a few other descriptors for a man with such self-regard, but let us hear out the argument of this winner of awards, as told to the Herald for a story claiming Sydney was too boring and expensive for the young and creative.
![Fred Schebesta, on Bondi Beach with Wayne Perry, has claimed that "crushing" Sydney's lifestyle for people in their 20s ...](/web/20161206094231im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/2/b/6/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt3kop.png/1480856862604.jpg)
"I don't think we have done ourselves any favours in Sydney with crushing particularly the 20-to-29-year-olds' lifestyle," Schebesta said. "It is almost like it is martial law here."
Those living in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos might be surprised at the comparison of life in Sydney to life under the military control of a dictator, but given the ban on shots of tequila at 3am in parts of the city centre I can see the comparison to a kleptocrat's preferred method of rule.
Schebesta is far from alone in converting a legitimate but mild grievance at restrictions on service of alcohol into accusations of breaches of fundamental human rights, usually with an added hashtag blaming the premier for turning off the tap to favour the casino.
Matt Barrie, another technology executive, said young creative staff found Sydney too boring to be enticed to live here. "We are a dead-end," he said, complaining that the city doesn't even offer "a lifestyle thing" any more.
![Scott Marsh's mural of NSW Premier Mike Baird against Sydney's lockout laws.](/web/20161206094231im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/e/3/l/7/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt3kop.png/1480856862604.jpg)
You might recognise the name, Barrie being the author of a LinkedIn rant in February short on fact, long on emotion, and heavily shared among those furious at the lockout laws.
"The total and utter destruction of Sydney's nightlife is almost complete," he declared then. "A succession of incompetent governments has systematically dismantled the entire night-time economy through a constant barrage of rules, regulation and social tinkering."
![Tourists certainly haven't been put off Sydney: the number of overnight visitors for the year ended June was up 8.8 per cent.](/web/20161206094231im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/d/v/j/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt3kop.png/1480856862604.jpg)
Now the end of the year and, despite some pub closures in Kings Cross and Oxford Street, Sydney's nightlife is yet to be utterly destroyed, unless nightlife means only what happens after 3am and Sydney only means the city, Kings Cross and Oxford Street.
Contrary to another of Barrie's conclusions, I suspect that it remains easier to get a beer in Sydney than Pyongyang, North Korea. I've never been to the hermit kingdom, but I was at a pub in Woolloomooloo on Saturday and I can report I was able to obtain beer, using the surreptitious method of asking for it at the bar.
Like many cities, Sydney has plenty of problems. Ugly apartment buildings. Abominable traffic. Obscene property prices. Duncan Gay is still the roads minister. The Daily Mail thinks Daniel Johns having a big night out is a story. Some people refuse to walk on the left. Too many dog owners look the other way when their pooch poos. Bike paths seem to stop at random, including at the top of a staircase on the Harbour Bridge.
The lockout laws also are problematic, obviously so, and will likely be relaxed, even if the benefits to the emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital are just as obvious. Any law trying to retrofit a solution to all venues when density of venues was a contributor to the problem was bound to be unfair. Live music venues copped it far too hard. The statewide bottle shop closing time of 10pm is as silly as not allowing most supermarkets to sell wine and beer.
But the conclusion that Sydney is stuffed is way overblown. Tourists certainly haven't been put off Sydney: the number of overnight visitors for the year ended June was up 8.8 per cent. The Baird government has recovered much of its popularity. And anyone who believes Sydney to be objectively dull to live in has spent little time in Adelaide, or in Brisbane, or in San Francisco, home of those tech start-ups – and 2am bar shutdowns.
Tim Dick is a Sydney lawyer. Twitter: dick_tim
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