Name: Wen Cai 450457135
#Sydney #Lockoutlaws #entertainment #assault #nightlife #protest #reclaimthestreets
Reclaim The Streets Protest Festival Hit Sydney’s CBD
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, hundreds of young people were waiting at the Town Hall Sydney for the huge protest festival – Reclaim The Streets. Instead of a serious protest, it was much more like a festival. People were chatting nicely with each other and meeting new friends. DJs were preparing for the mobile music stages, making loud inspiring electronic music. At three o’clock, the protest began. The crew members were holding a huge banner “Reclaim The Streets” and leading the march towards to the Star casino. There was another more attracting banner said “Welcome to Sydney” hold by some protesters who were wearing funny colorful dinosaur and unicorn suits.
Everyone was happy and enjoyed the moment. As people were walking towards the Star casino, everyone was so enjoyable holding drinks and shaking with the music. People on the road couldn’t help stopping and took photos for such a huge movement. And of course, lots of them joined in the march. People were singing and dancing in the sunset. When arriving at the Star casino, the crowd started to cheer up and threw tissues to the casino. Even it was a little bit messy, but people were still immersed in a relaxing and fun atmosphere. The happiness made Sydney even more charming and vibrant.
Protesters wearing funny suits. Photo by Wen Cai
Reclaim The Streets is a huge protest festival in Sydney since 1997. In 2005, Reclaim The Streets Protest Festival was hold at Hyde Park at William Street Sydney. More than 1500 people attended to protest against the lockout laws. This year the theme was to protest against the lockout laws and the casinos which have been the exemption of the lockout zone.
The spokesperson of Reclaim The Streets, Mrs Vicki Melson said,
“ The lockout law has been a long-going problem in NSW, it’s time for the public to make a difference for themselves. We feel that there is a lot of corruption in the city. And that we are being hemmed in ridiculous laws and not allowed to take responsibility for our own actions. And as grown-ups, we have the right to live in a responsible way as we choose.”
One of the protesters Matt Gortty told the reason why he came to protest,
“I want to be able to go out until 3 o’clock. Whether I want to or not, I want to have that choice. And I feel that this new law’s stopping me from doing that. Sydney shouldn’t be one of the only major cities in the world essentially to have its lockout laws for people not to be able to express their freedom, but also just be able to go out and have a good time without being told what to do and what they can’t do.”
Reclaim The Streets Protest Festival. Photo by Wen Cai
People were nicely ordered by the police car and the crew. There were ten mobile music stage in the march, making people enjoyed the music while walking. As a participant who joined in many other protests before, Mr Ryan Coltman thought that Reclaim The Streets was special from the others,
“It’s definitely different because you’ve got the mobile music stages and that sort of thing. It’s different people, you know, coming from different places. Everyone just comes together and has a good day. And yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
However, although it was not the first time that Reclaim The Streets takes place, the public still doesn’t have much awareness on this issue. Mr Matt Gorty said,
“It’s put out there as much as it possibly can, but it’s also shut down by a lot of media outlets because you know the government doesn’t want us to really know about it and protest against it.”
Lockout Laws in Sydney and Casino’s Political Donation
Lockout laws were launched by New South Wales government in 2014 on the purpose to reduce the alcohol-related assault in CBD area including King Cross, Surry Hills, the Rocks and Cockle Bay. According to the laws, entertainment venues such as pubs and clubs should not accept new customers after 1:30 am as well as no service of drinks after 3pm. Take-away alcohol is not available after 10pm. However, the lockout laws are controversial among the public and raised concern on the freedom and vibrancy of Sydney.
However, although the lockout laws are strict to most of the entertainment venues, casinos have been exemptions to the laws. A strong voice raised in the public that the exemption of the Star casino and Barangaroo casino which is under construction is due to the millions of political donation to the party from 1998 to 2011 when donations from gaming and tobacco companies were still allowed to the government.
The Influence of Lockout Laws
Since the lockout laws have been conducted for two years, the effect is questioning. According to Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s crime statistic, the number of assaults related to alcohol has declined by 40% at King Cross. Another apparent drop is at Sydney’s CBD which reduced 20% in assaults. Nevertheless, it is believed that the reason of lower assault rate in King Cross is rooted in the reduction of visitors at night in this area according to the lower foot traffic. The lockout laws are restricting assaults by driving people away from the CBD in Sydney.
Source:New South Wales Record Crime Statistic 2015 (BCSR,2015)
Photo: Wen Cai
In contract, however, the number of assaults in Star casino was largely increasing by 88% between 2014 and 2015 since the casino is not included in the lockout zone. However, the spokesman of the Star casino told the ABC News that the Star casino have millions of customers every year, thus the rate was not high based on the huge quantity of costumers. The Star casino also claimed that they have a strict safety concern for their clients.
Although there is not much people can do about the policy, the public has drawn more attention on this issue. The large-scale opposition to the lockout laws are also happening on the Internet as over 12,000 signatures were submitted on the petition asking for a more sensible solution on this issue. It also rose a heated discussion on Twitter and Facebook with the tag #Casinomike on Twitter for the Mike Baird, Premier of New South Wales. Moreover, the number of protesters is growing every year, making more pressure on the government and the casino.
“We are out there. We are not gonna be quiet. We are going to make difference. And this is automatically our city not theirs,” said Mrs Melson.
onlinejournalism004 
Hi, Wen
Congratulations on an interesting feature story. It is a newsworthy as lockout law is a long debated topic that is highly relevant to people in Sydney.
I love the pictures you provided in the article allows me witness the protest. In addition, a number of hyperlinks were embed in the story which navigate me to external website when I click it. It is a sufficient way for me to get more information about the event. Furthermore, the snapshots of twitter you embed in the article present me with the attitudes of publics toward the lockout law.
Overall, you have done a good job. But there are some suggestions for improvement. It is better to add a video as it is more powerful than pictures in terms of protest. In addition, the length of paragraph should be reduced to make article more readable.
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Hi Wen
Well done on creating an interesting and informative piece. The pictures you used really captured the moment and added value to your story. A video from the day would have been even better – to capture the movement and the noise. I liked the way you captured the mood of the protest and explained that it was a happy festival vibe.
One suggestion would be to bring the personal stories – quotes – earlier into the piece and before the statistical background. You selected excellent quotes and interviewees however I think they would entice the reader more if they were placed at about paragraph two or three. If you used more white space it would have assisted readability.
It may have also helped to have a spokesperson from NSW Police to speak about the reduction in crime in the CBD, although the table of statistics you used was informative. I felt the story could have used a stronger conclusion.
All the best, K
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