Nightlife and entertainment are crucial to the identity and wellbeing of a city – they give us the opportunity to meet people, see friends and have a good time.

This is no more important than right here in New South Wales. We want our state to be an exciting, vibrant place that attracts young people to stay.

But that is not going to happen unless we can get rid of some of the outdated rules which disincentive pubs and clubs from operating in such a way.

That is why I am making changes to encourage more local entertainment and help get Sydney’s night life going again.

The first change is removing ridiculous restrictions currently in place that prescribe “no entertainment” or dictate what genre of music can be played.

In a major international city like Sydney, we cannot have such restrictions anymore.

The second change is requiring property buyers to be notified that they are moving into an entertainment precinct.

This means that if you move into a community which is located next to a club, pub or a restaurant which has already been there for a while you cannot all of a sudden complain and say I had no idea I was in an entertainment precinct.

We are trying to stop the closing down of venues because of a few very vocal neighbours demanding that they be shut. 

Finally, we are removing the antiquated rule that prevents people living close to a registered club from signing in without first becoming a member.

These reforms are crucial in bringing back some of the excitement back to Sydney.

I have seen too many areas around Sydney that used to be vibrant and full of nightlife gradually shut down, stopping people from having fun in a sensible way.

Realistically these changes are a recognition that we all go to the middle of Sydney CBD and because of that we need to have a nighttime economy that reflects the kind of people that are coming in, spending money, seeing friends and having a good time.