A protest has been called to take place in Hyde Park on Thursday February 21 in response to the Berejiklian government’s recently announced new licence for music festivals, which rally organisers say is “knee-jerk regulation” and “forcing music out of NSW”.
The new regulations include user-pays policing, which imposes a large bill on festival organisers. They give the Office of Liquor and Gaming regulatory oversight over all safety issues at festivals. They also impose a 90-day approval process, which is argued to be incompatible with festival timelines when it comes to securing acts.
Festival organisers are being told to comply with the regulations from March 1 even though the regulations have not been finalised and are not yet law.
The organisation Don’t Kill Live Music has demanded that the State Government form a music regulation roundtable to review all regulation impacting live music. They have demanded that the government work with the music industry to develop robust and achievable safety protocols for festivals. An online petition has been been started.
The protest takes place at 6-8pm.