There are a scant few combinations of words that could spare New South Wales Premier Mike Baird from torrents of ire.
They include, but are not limited to, “perhaps there is a more nuanced approach to curbing alcohol-fuelled violence!”, or “responsible adults shouldn’t need to be funnelled into designated gambling districts!”
Notably absent from that list of phrases: “We’ve turned on the lights.” Especially after the grand daddy-o of all lockout law takedowns bore the headline Would the last person in Sydney please turn the lights out?
Regardless, those five words adorn the Premier’s social media musings on Sydney’s Vivid LIVE Festival, which, all analogies aside, did turn on tonight.
Immune to temporary bedazzling, citizens of the illuminated city wasted precisely zero time slamming the bloke for his subtle dig at lockout criticisms:
Presumably, the incandescent glow of ten thousand phone screens being angrily tapped on is the festival’s unheralded centrepiece.
As far as the actual politics of the city’s lockouts go? Well, Greens MP Jenny Leong delivered a 10,000 signature-strong petition against the laws to Parliament earlier this month, and the Liquor Law Review’s report on the matter will be served up in August.
But, at least the Opera House does look genuinely pretty in the meantime.
Source: Mike Baird / Facebook.
Photo: Mike Baird / Facebook.
