Page 2542 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 31 July 2019
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We must make sure that Canberra never follows the bad examples of burdening night-time venues with nanny-state regulations such as lock-out laws and compulsory ID scanners like in Sydney and Brisbane. Our nightlife must not only be kept free and vibrant but it must be encouraged to grow as our city does. As more and more residential spaces are built in Civic and across our other town centres, dated regulations that provide little certainty will threaten this growth and investment in nightlife. It will hurt local artists who rely on the openness and flexibility of venues to host gigs, and it will hurt Canberra’s local economy. A free city with an active nightlife is a city that attracts tourists and investment, with higher employment and more opportunities.
The most frustrating part of this entire debate is the hypocrisy that we have seen from the Greens. While we welcome their support today I think that this still needs mention. The hypocrisy of standing in front of a crowd of people and blaming the government for being too slow to act on this issue, the government in which you are a cabinet minister, is completely absurd.
The question which must now be answered by Minister Rattenbury is: what has he done before now to raise noise restrictions? In this place he holds the balance of power and has formed government with the ACT Labor Party. What is the point of Minister Rattenbury and the ACT Greens if they are so reluctant to use their power in this place to actually achieve the outcomes that they claim to support? The question really answers itself.
My other frustration here is the inconsistency that we have seen from the government on the issue of noise restrictions. While bars and music venues are subject to noise restrictions the same rules do not apply to government infrastructure projects. A few months ago I was inundated with emails and phone calls from constituents who live along the Northbourne Avenue corridor who experience night after night of lack of sleep due to the all-night light rail construction work going on outside their windows. Some of these residents recorded noise levels of 80 decibels from inside their apartments at 2 am, with the windows closed, well above the legal limits. Why is it that these noise restrictions apply to some and not others?
The Canberra Liberals have consistently supported the development of entertainment precincts and have firmly opposed the implementation of lock-out laws and other stifling legislation for over 10 years. Unlike Labor and the Greens, we actually think that less regulation is a good thing for music venues, bars and clubs in Canberra.
Minister Gentleman’s announcement today does not go nearly far enough. God forbid that people have fun on a weekday evening or after midnight on weekends! The government should quite simply get out of the way and raise decibel limits to unleash the real potential of Canberra’s nightlife.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (4.55): I thank Ms Le Couteur for working with my office regarding this amendment. I can understand what my Greens colleague is feeling in regard to the time line on what was her first motion in this place. It is 10 years that the Legislative Assembly has been talking about making some changes
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