NSW Premier Mike Baird has ruffled some feathers with his latest Facebook post, in which he sings the praises of his state’s wildly unpopular lockout laws, insisting they’ve made Sydney “safer and more vibrant than ever”.

Sitting counter to Baird’s missive, for which his constituents are basically eviscerating him on social media, is all of the evidence that says the opposite is true – Kings Cross is a ghost town and violence rates might actually be up.

“The main complaints seem to be that you can’t drink till dawn any more and you can’t impulse-buy a bottle of white after 10pm,” Bairds writes in his incredibly condescending post. “I understand that this presents an inconvenience.”

“Some say this makes us an international embarrassment. Except, assaults are down by 42.2 per cent. And there is nothing embarrassing about that.” Baird fails to note the per capita increase in violence once you take into account the massive dip in foot traffic.

“Over the coming months a detailed review into the effects of the lock-out laws will be undertaken,” Baird adds. “I await this work with interest. But as I’ve said before, it is going to take a lot for me to change my mind on a policy that is so clearly improving this city.”

One person who disagrees with Baird’s assessment is Matt Barrie. You probably know him best as the Sydney businessman who penned a viral LinkedIn post in which he savaged the lockout laws for what they’ve done to the NSW capital.

Let’s start with a statistic about Sydney’s nightlife that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per…

Posted by Mike Baird onMonday, February 8, 2016

Among the concerning statistics Barrie cites in his article are an 84 percent decline in King’s Cross foot traffic between 2012 and 2015, with 42 bars, clubs, and small businesses closing as a result of a 40 percent dip in revenue.

As Pedestrian.tv reports, not content to simply sit by and watch as Baird trots out faulty statistics, Barrie replied to the Premier’s post, explaining why the lockout laws have hardly made Sydney more “vibrant”.

“I am glad you finally found your social media logins,” Barrie opens. “Here’s a statistic for you Mike: 927,000 reads of my article, #1 on LinkedIn Globally, #1 for reddit/r/sydney…”

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“…and of 950 comments, 84.9% agreed that you have destroyed the city’s reputation, small businesses, jobs or Sydney’s social & cultural fabric, 8.7% were neutral or had no comment, and only 6.4% agreed with you.”

We can’t know for certain, but we’re pretty sure Barrie dropped a mic onto his computer table after he left that comment. He’s also launched an initiative that might sway Baird from further endorsements of the lockout laws.

Barrie has started a GoFundMe campaign to send Baird a 1959 bottle of Grange Hermitage to “thank him for the lockout laws”.

As we all know, it was the preferred drink of Baird’s predecessor, Barry O’Farrell, who oversaw the implementation of the lockout laws.

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