Above video: Identical festivals. Two states. Nearly double the police presence.
The controversial NSW festival licensing scheme - which several festivals credit for the cancellation - could be scrapped if a movement from Labor is successful.
Labor’s Shadow Minister for Nightlife and Music John Graham is pushing to cancel the regulatory system introduced by the Berejiklian government earlier in the year.
Speaking to The Feed, MP Graham said, “As a result of the regulations, the festival industry has said we might lose up to a third of the festivals out of New South Wales, we’re moving to strike out the regulations to make the government sit down and talk to the festival industry.”
We’ve already lost hundreds of music venues, we just can’t afford to lose the festivals as well.
Live Performance Australia, Australian Festival Association, MusicNSW and Association of Artist Managers released a joint statement praising the move.
“If Premier Berejiklian is serious about festival safety, she will acknowledge the original regulations were rushed through without industry consultation and only achieved a dramatic increase in costs to festival organisers and fans.”
They forced the cancellation or relocation of events without delivering a meaningful safety improvement.
The statement also echoed Graham’s call for the government to improve the regulations in consultation with the festival sector.
Potentially harmful legislation
In February, the Berejiklian government announced a new ‘user pays’ clause to be added on to existing festival licensing laws. The addition would see ‘higher risk’ festivals be required to pay for increased emergency services on site.
Mountain Sounds and Psyfari claim their 2019 event cancellations were a result of the last minute changes.
At the time, a Don’t Kill Live Music petition calling on the government to rethink the legislation garnered over 100,000 signatures.
It included support from industry figures like Bernard Fanning and Vance Joy, as well as major festivals including Byron Bay Bluesfest and Splendour In The Grass.
An uphill battle
Due to the way the NSW upper house is currently structured, Graham will need support from seven of the 11 crossbenchers for the motion to progress.
Labor is hanging its hopes on six progressive crossbenchers (three Greens MPs, two Animal Justice Party MPs and independent Justin Field) to back them.
However, they will still need at least one vote from the conservative bloc of MPs which consists of two Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, two from One Nation, and one Christian Democrat.
“I’m hopeful based on the state of positions of some of the other political parties that they will be supporting of the government going back to the drawing board,” Graham told The Feed.
“It’s possible to save the New South Wales music scene but we really need to get the government to be more supportive of the music sector - this is a part of that.”
