Flight Facilities speak out against Sydney’s ‘lock-out laws’

by: Michael Cooper Feb 10, 2016

Australian producer duo Flight Facilities posted a scathing open letter on their Facebook condemning their hometown Sydney’s controversial “lock-out laws.” The newly instated rules require certain bars and clubs to close their doors to new patrons at 1:30AM and prohibit the sale of alcohol to those inside at 3AM.

These laws went into effect in February 2014 following two alcohol-related incidents — one in July 2012, the other New Year’s Eve 2013 — involving unprovoked attacks that resulted in deaths.

The letter lists a number of clubs that have been shut down where the duo got their first break playing late-night sets. It was those “still heaving” crowds that were essential in the formation of Flight Facilities’ style and the foundation of a career that has since gone international.

The duo go on to negatively compare Sydney’s struggling nightlife to those of cities around the world and at home — namely Melbourne, which has political support locally and is “thriving.”

Blame for the laws — and the target of their vitriol — is placed on the “expired minds” of local politicians who have championed their implementation and caused the subsequent decline of Sydney’s music scene.

Flight Facilities are not the only Australian musicians to speak out against the laws. Alison Wonderland posted an open letter on her Facebook directed at Mike Baird, the Premier of the New South Wales and a proponent of these “lock-out laws,” presumably in response to a Facebook post of his own from February 8.

Read Flight Facilities’ post in full below.