The Greens have a long track record standing up against the lockout laws and over-policing in NSW.

We stand with musicians, creatives, artists, festivals, party-goers, hospo workers, foodies, wine-connoisseurs and people who want to be able to dance all night to 80’s Madonna or Mojo Juju. The Greens want live music to thrive in our city and know the importance of music festivals. And we will do everything we can to make this happen!

We were the only party in parliament who opposed the lockouts when they were introduced. 



In the next parliamentary term, Greens MPs for Newtown and Balmain, Jenny Leong and Jamie Parker, will introduce bills to repeal the lockouts and ban sniffer dogs. 

We support a harm minimisation approach to drug use which includes state sanctioned pill testing. We oppose punitive regulations that shut down our nightlife and close down festivals.It's beginning to look like NSW has become the biggest party pooper state in the country.

For a government that is supposedly ‘liberal’, and who values individual freedoms, the Berejiklian Government has becoming increasingly interested in regulating people’s private lives.

While the wowserism of this government has provoked outrage, the double standards are breathtaking: at a time when our personal freedoms are being progressively restricted, major corporations are enjoying a golden age – at our expense.

The overregulation of festivals has become the latest in a chain of events where the government has cracked down hard on innocent people on the dance floor. The fun police have been out in force these past few years – first sniffer dogs, then the lockouts, then banning protests and public assembly and now music festivals.

See Greens MPs Jenny Leong and Tamara Smith's media statement on live music here. 

In good news for families living in Redfern, the Department of Education has revised the boundaries for the Inner City High School Catchment following a concerted community campaign to allow local kids to attend the school.

“The revision will be a welcome win for some - but there still remains a number of unanswered questions.

NSW Greens Housing and Homelessness spokesperson Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown has responded to the Liberal's homelessness announcement today by questioning the priorities of the Premier and highlighting the hypocrisy of the Minister for Family and Community Services.

“While setting targets is welcome, the targets announced by the Liberals today would amount to housing fewer than 5 people every week across the whole state! Surely we can do better than that.

Greens Members for Newtown and Ballina have confirmed their support for the Australian Festivals Association’s (AFA) demands on the NSW Government as the internationally renowned Bluesfest threatens to move the festival to Queensland. The Director of Bluesfest has squarely pointed the finger at this government for their actions.

Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown

"The Greens absolutely support the AFA’s calls, in fact we consider what they are asking for to be the basic minimum standard for community consultation and evidence-based policy making,”  said Jenny Leong, Greens MP for Newtown.

"We’ve seen the Liberals and Nationals impose lockouts, attempt to shut down our city and stop us from dancing - and now they are throwing the same sort of uninformed and outdated views on our festivals and it’s having enormous consequences.

"The Greens were the only party in the NSW Parliament to stand strong and oppose the lockout laws when they were introduced - our position is clear - we oppose the Sydney and CBD lockouts, we support pill-testing and we want a thriving and creative live music scene,” she said.

“We need to stop the over policing of festivals - including banning sniffer dogs -  and support our musicians and the music industry in NSW."

Tamara Smith MP, Member for Ballina

“Today’s statements from the Director of the award winning Bluesfest are a real worry, this festival is such an important part of the local economy and our community,” said Tamara Smith, Greens MP for Ballina.

“Regional festivals don't want to suffer the same fate as Sydney when lockouts were introduced and to see a hugely successful Festival in its 30th year, fighting for its existence is shocking.

“This government seems hell bent on dismantling our music industry and closing down cultural events - it’s shameful.

“Bluesfest are just the latest business owners to worry about how to keep the lights on in the face of restrictive and over the top government actions and they are likely not the last."

Background:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-12/bluesfest-threatens-to-leave-nsw-over-government-policy/10802330

https://amnplify.com.au/an-open-letter-from-the-australian-festivals-association

Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown, tabled the petition signed by 10,000+ people in support of Keeping Sydney Safe and Open in 2016 - her speech is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zodvK5NVMQ

Today's announcement by the NSW Minister for Social Housing, Pru Goward on the plans for the redevelopment of the Waterloo housing estate represents one of the NSW Liberal National government’s largest sell offs of a public asset, according to NSW Greens Housing spokesperson, Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown.

“This is public land and right now there’s an urgent need for a significant action to address the housing stress people in our city are currently experiencing. 

“In the current crisis, it is unacceptable that 70% of the proposed development on this public land will be turned over to corporate developers to make massive profits  – it’s time to call a halt to this scam.

The Greens respond to the Report by the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Impact of WestConnex which was secured by the Greens and the community.

Greens Member for Newtown Jenny Leong MP:

“The evidence and Recommendations of the Report demonstrate that this project has been a debacle.

“The planning, delivery, financing and lack of transparency has caused significant negative impacts on the community.

“The damage that his project will have on our community is far from over with years of devastating construction and billions of dollars of expenses still to come.

The Aboriginal Housing Company has submitted modified plans for the Pemulwuy Project which includes aboriginal affordable housing and student housing on The Block. These plans and the submissions regarding this new proposal are currently being reviewed by the Independent Planning Commission and you can find details here.

According to the WestConnex M4-M5 Link interactive map showing the proposed tunnel depths throughout the Inner West, many homes located above parts of the route will be potentially irrevocably damaged, according to Greens Member for Newtown Jenny Leong MP and, Jamie Parker MP, Greens Member for Balmain.

Jenny Leong MP:

“Work on the M4-M5 WestConnex 8-lane tunnel should be stopped immediately as the impact on many residents’ homes along the route will be disastrous.
“Depths of between 16-25 metres under many residential streets in Camperdown, Annandale and Leichhardt are extremely worrying given the severe impacts we have already seen on homes in other areas at deeper tunneling depths,” she said.

Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens Housing spokesperson has responded to the passing of the Residential Tenancies Act in Parliament today, praising some changes, but saying the new laws fail to give renters basic security of tenure by ending unfair no grounds evictions.

NSW Greens Transport Spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann has branded the troubled Westconnex toll road a textbook example of Government mismanagement, poor planning and skewed priorities following the first day of public hearings at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the impacts of the Westconnex project.

“Today we heard compelling evidence from experts and community members which highlighted that Westconnex is a textbook example of Government mismanagement, poor planning and skewed priorities,” Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said.