As the NSW state election season staggers to its exhausting conclusion you’d likely be aware of the number of weird own-goals the Coalition government of Gladys Berejiklian is currently scoring.
And among the replacement of stadia, the collapse of public transport and weird last minute scandals around its members, there’s the whole harsh-new-conditions-for-festivals thing.
And a bunch of them have decided to cut through the, ahem, static.
The government’s attempt to be all Tough On Drugs and show action over pill overdoses that doesn’t involve the introduction of the supported-by-evidence process of pill testing (which Ms B really, really does not get) led to new last minute licensing requirements for festivals, literally days before some of the festivals were booked to take place.
Check.
And while that forced a couple of festivals to cancel at the last minute after being unable to comply with expensive and unclear new regulations, there are still 14 festivals designated “high risk” although neither they nor the government know what the criteria actually are.
Check!
And while the legislation is NSW-specific, the lion’s share of festivals around the nation have joined in solidarity with their NSW colleagues. Splendour in the Grass! Groovin’ The Moo! Falls Festival! God, that sounds like a
It’s all part of the #votemusic campaign which seeks to encourage NSW voters to take the future of live music into account when casting their ballot.
Because let’s be honest, live music is still about the best thing on this godforsaken orbiting rock-lump and a world without it isn’t worth bothering with, consarn it.
Checkity-check-check!
Interestingly Bluesfest have not come on board at the time of writing, despite their being all bolshy about Australian festivals when it appeared that they were under threat.
C’mon, guys. Everyone wins with saving live music events, or everyone loses. After all, today’s millennials are tomorrow’s boomers…