Australia is “on the verge of becoming the world’s dumbest nation” because of excessive regulations, according to magazine owner and renowned jetsetter Tyler Brûlé.

Brûlé, whose lifestyle magazine, Monocle, publishes an annual world’s most liveable cities list, reportedly made the comments in a talk he gave for the Vivid festival in Sydney on Monday night.

According to Fairfax Media, Brûlé told the crowd that Australia was becoming known as a “nanny state” because of excessive regulation, and that “people think it’s a little bit nuts here.”

“This country is on the verge of becoming the world’s dumbest nation,” Brûlé is reported to have said. “There will be a collapse of common sense here if health and safety wins out on every single discussion.”

“If you want to be globally attractive, you do need to have bars open until whatever hour of the day,” he said.

The lockout laws, which prevent new patrons from entering a pub in the CBD after 1.30am and cut off last drinks at 3am, were introduced in 2014 in response to a high profile fatal one-punch assault.

Sydney’s liquor restrictions also prevent people from standing on the footpath outside the pub with their drink, and place a ban on ordering shots after midnight.

It’s unlikely other Australian cities would fare better under Brûlé’s criticism.

Live music venues in Melbourne claim they are being strangled by noise complaints.

Until two weeks ago, drinking while standing up in a beer garden our outdoor entertaining area was banned in South Australia. SA attorney general John Rau relented on that point earlier this month, and pubs can now apply to remove that particular restriction from their liquor licence.

In Perth, it’s currently illegal to carry a drink across a footpath to a designated outdoor dining area. Those laws are set to be clarified in upcoming changes to the Liquor Act. The WA police commissioner was pushing for standardised operating hours for pubs and clubs to be introduced as part of the review, as well as a restriction on restaurants serving alcohol without a meal, but both those suggestions have been rejected.

However, Brûlé’s misgivings about the vibrancy of Australian cities does not seem to have affected their livability, as measured by his magazine. Melbourne ranked third on Monocle’s 2014 quality of life survey, followed by Sydney at 11 and Brisbane at 25.

In an interview on Radio National on Monday, Brûlé said Sydney and Melbourne “had always been in-game” in the liveable cities list, but that Australia would improve its cities if it encouraged local enterprise.

“Part of that has to be down to ensuring that there is also a climate in place to ensure unique small businesses,” he told RN Breakfast host Fran Kelly. “That is absolutely essential.”

Brûlé also said that noise restrictions also served to make cities less interesting.

“People say, in cities, let’s not have small industry because noise is bad,” he said. “Well noise is part of living in a big city in a way, and yet it’s become a bad word.”

Source: The Guardian   Calla Wahlquist  May 28th 2015