Australia is fast becoming "the world's dumbest nation" because of nanny state rules and restrictions, says Canadian journalist and magazine publisher Tyler Brûlé.
He argued that Australians were increasingly being "mollycoddled" through health and safety laws, and that our cities were at risk of becoming over-sanitised.
"This country is on the verge of becoming the world's dumbest nation. There will be a collapse of commonsense here if health and safety wins out on every single discussion," he said.
"People think it's a little bit nuts here."
Brûlé, 46, revered in some circles as a guru on urban design and cities, was speaking to a sold-out audience at the old Sydney Theatre as part of the Vivid Ideas festival.
He singled out Sydney's lockout laws, airport curfew and excessive council regulations on alfresco dining as harming the city's global standing.
"If you want to be globally attractive, you do need to have bars open until whatever hour of the day," he said, to cheers from the audience.
"And I need to be able to open a pop-up shop in Surry Hills and walk on the pavement with my wine glass. To me that's actually important. It is not going to bring about the collapse of society because you do that."
According to the City of Sydney council's website, venues wishing to serve alcohol in outdoor dining areas need to propose a "plan of management". The plan is required to address issues such as operating hours, capacity, security, waste management and crowd and noise control.
Venues must ensure their alfresco activities have "no adverse impact on the amenity of the neighbourhood". The council says it also considers the type of land where the outdoor dining is proposed and the use of surrounding properties. Premises whose applications are approved are then put on a period of probation.
There is also a freeze on new or expanded footpath dining proposals in Kings Cross, coinciding with the liquor licence freeze in that area.
The lockout laws introduced in February last year prevent patrons from entering licensed premises within the Sydney CBD Entertainment Precinct after 1.30am, and enforce a "last drinks" order at 3am within those venues.
The laws were introduced in response to incidents of alcohol-related violence in Kings Cross and the city.
Those laws appear to have reduced violent crime, possibly by reducing the overall number of partygoers heading into the precinct, but have also angered businesses that depend on late-night trade.
Brûlé said many cities around the globe were ridding themselves of the grit that made them interesting and surprising places.
"We're forgetting the value of what a city is supposed to be," he said. "Humanity is about noise and dirt and mistakes. And yet we want to sanitise our cities."
Though he did not specifically mention Sydney Airport's 11pm to 6am curfew, he said global cities needed to put up with the reality of aircraft noise.
"Do you want to be in the game globally or not? And if you do, you need airplanes flying over your city."
Brûlé also took a shot at the nation's punching bag, Canberra, comparing it to Ottawa, the capital of his native Canada, and Detroit, the crumbled manufacturing stronghold of Michigan.
"Woah. People talk about stimulating business and what they should do in Australia … I mean, downtown Canberra, it's like Detroit," he said.
He said diplomats who were posted to Ottawa were given a "hardship allowance" because the capital is "the same as being in some rather dreadful developing nation".
Brûlé's empire includes Monocle - an upmarket magazine published 10 times a year focusing on liveability, design, culture and trends - the Monocle 24 radio station and a long-running column in the prestigious Financial Times Weekend.
He is known for travelling the globe almost constantly.
"Everything becomes high-vis," he said. "Soon you're going to apply for your visa from overseas and you're going to get a hard hat and you're going to get a vest to wear before you get on the plane."
Brûlé did not complete his university education but was trained as a journalist at the BBC, later moving into print journalism and working as a contributor and correspondent for various European publications.
He also launched the magazine Wallpaper, which he later sold to Time Inc.
He has previously noted in his FT Weekend column that Sydney and Melbourne "tend to do well on the liveability index". Australia is also the third largest market for Monocle magazine.
