It’s a similar story on New Year’s Eve,which is now beingconsumed by ticketed and commercial activities. You can only drink if you buy booze,at unspeakable prices,from a licensed seller in the ticketed area. This is supposed to be our public foreshore.

Comically,while trying to tell theHerald about all the free events it was supporting this summer,the governmentaccidentally and mistakenly listed Sydney Festival First Night,a loved program of free concerts that was snuffed out by funding cuts way back in 2013.

Let’s give them some credit:the government has put a lot of money,time and effort into programs to help Sydney and the state recover from COVID-19:parties,festivals,and big events like Vivid or Friday’s Open For Lunch,both unquestionable successes. In a period of great stress and hardship,this was welcome and needed.

But top-down culture can only get you so far. Sometimes you just need to hand over the space and let punters create their own fun. It works in Melbourne and there’s no reason it won’t work here.

Talking to people in government,you get the impression there are just way too many cooks in the kitchen. Bureaucratic operations that nobody’s ever heard of – Place Management NSW,anyone? – apparently have a big say over where,when and whether we can have fun.

Bureaucrats,some of the most fun-allergic people you will meet,cannot be placed in charge of these things. Someone with one foot in the real world needs to just come in and call the shots. Maybe it ought to be someone from Victoria.

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