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[title]Mike Rodrigues is Sydney's inaugural 24-hour economy commissioner, affectionately called the 'night mayor' of Sydney. Mike is also Time Out's former managing director and knows a thing or two about going out in the Emerald City. We put your questions to him about Sydney's nightlife and how we can make it even better.
Do you have a question for the night mayor? Send it through with the subject line "Ask the night mayor" and we'll put it to the man himself. Or you can use this Google Form.
Can we keep the liquor licence changes made during Covid for bars/restaurants?
There were definitely some important changes made during Covid, like allowing small bars to deliver bottled cocktails, which created an important revenue stream during lockdown. Similar reforms to permit outdoor dining have been game-changers not only for businesses but in adding to the vibrancy of our streetscapes. Our office is keen to work with colleagues across government to hang on to the best of this “system upgrade”.
Where do you go out in Sydney at night?
Possibly too many places to mention, but I like to sample as many different experiences around the city as possible.
In early May I hit the Sydney Comedy Festival and visited a number of locations including the Enmore, the Concourse in Chatswood, the State Theatre and the Comedy Store at the Entertainment Quarter. I saw a wide range of acts and rubbed shoulders with Sydneysiders of many different backgrounds. With my Indian heritage, I’m partial to a curry, so you’ll often find me at my favourite late-night diner, the Tandoori Hut in Enmore.
Please allow 24/7 supermarkets in the inner CBD. Imagine being one of the most expensive cities and still not having comparable nightlife to other top cities.
When people ask when will we know when Sydney is a truly 24-hour city, I say it’s the day when I can buy an onion in a supermarket at three in the morning. I’m not being flippant; it’s really important that we can access goods and amenities throughout the night, particularly for night-time workers.
It’s obviously up to supermarkets and other shops to decide how late to open, but government can make it easier to trade 24 hours. I am working with a number of pioneering councils including City of Sydney, Parramatta and Randwick on their brilliant Late Night Development Control Plans. Ignore the long-winded name, what it basically means is it will be easier for businesses from retailers to hairdressers to trade without jumping through regulatory hoops.
Changes like this will mean it’ll be easier to grab a haircut or buy that onion at all times of the day or night.
How much power do you have to actually make some big changes to the Sydney night-time scene?
I’m the only 24-Hour Economy Commissioner in Australia and only one of a handful worldwide. So we should recognise that NSW is leading the country in creating my role, a strategy and an office to deliver it.
I’m obviously part of a much larger government machine and have to work with lots of other departments and ministers to get things done. I have a seat at the table, a mandate to deliver a strategy endorsed by government and a minister in Stuart Ayres who is 100 per cent committed to making Sydney a 24-hour city.
My focus is always on the ‘art of the possible’. That means delivering the most and making the biggest impact possible.
Are you disillusioned in your role now that you've been there a few months, or can you really make some lasting changes?
Far from it. I have never been more excited or optimistic. It’s obviously been a really tough 12 months, particularly during lockdown and the Omicron wave. But the city is now regenerating and doing so in a way that I think is better than what we had before. New venues are opening regularly. Conferencing is coming back. And with restrictions now lifted brands are doing exciting activations.
We are investing tens of millions of dollars into CBDs revitalisation, putting money in the pockets of businesses and performers and bringing a feel-good factor back to urban areas. We have stripped back on regulation to make it easier for businesses to trade, and also rolled out alfresco infrastructure across the city.
We are making the going-out experience safer through our support for the Take Kare Safe Spaces program and are building up local night-time precincts through our Uptown district acceleration program.
With the pandemic hopefully behind us, there’s even more we can do over the next 12 months. I’ll get some sleep after that.
What plans do you have for free or low cost events? Believe it or not, not everyone in Sydney is a wealthy property developer with wads of cash.
This is something of which I am acutely aware. I grew up in Sydney’s outer suburbs and today with a mortgage and two young kids, I am sensitive to the pressures on household budgets for many Sydneysiders. Free and low-cost events are really important.
We are actually doing a lot in this space. From December last year through to September this year, we are rolling out events and activations across Greater Sydney as part of the CBDs Revitalisation Program. These are being supported by Your Street Your Party, a string of free street parties between May and July, taking place in local neighbourhoods.
There are also events taking place as part of the Streets as Shared Spaces program, run by our friends in the Cities department, and local councils also regularly stage free events in their local communities.
So there’s plenty for people to see and do, even if money is tight.