Peter Garrett To Launch Labor Music Policy Tonight

Federal Minister and Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett will tonight officially announced New South Wales Labor's Labor Loves Live Music campaign, which local government representatives will use for the upcoming elections in September.

Announced at a recent party conference, the campaign is based around the Agent Of Change principle – that is determining responsibility for noise management – and Garrett, who currently holds the School Education, Early Childhood and Youth portfolio, said today that, “Over-regulation is killing our live music venues and to see great institutions suffer is very upsetting – like the Annandale, which has long been an incubator of the music industry.”

The Minister said, “We urgently need strong live music venues… Our city should have heaps of places available for musicians of all genres to play. Even in a digital world, being on a stage in front of an audience is essential for most musicians to express their craft and build an audience, and of course make a living.”

Music campaigner John Wardle was approached by state Labor earlier this year to consult on a potential policy and he told theMusic.com.au today that at a council level, the agent of change principle was the key platform for any policy to be built upon.

“It's also about looking at development control,” said Wardle, “that if you're looking at building residential premises in night economy zones, then we should be looking at what type of measures are being taken. If you're going to make a night complaint against a venue, well have you got an appropriate level of constructions [on your property] for a night economy zone? And what sort of expectations have you got.”

The policy – which is expected to be a major point for councilors in the lead up to the Saturday 8 September elections – is the latest proof of a growing recognition of live music as a political topic.

“Live music's always been newsworthy,” said Wardle. It's our identity, it's so important… What's fantastic about this policy is you're going to see elected representatives across New South Wales for whom this is their policy position.”

Specifically, the policy will look at:

- Planning controls to protect venues from complaints, particularly from residents who move into areas with pre-existing venues.
- A 'Good Neighbour' policy to encourage negotiation between residents and venues and avoid court cases.
- Changes to state laws that will enforce better building standards (sound proofing, etc.) in areas with live music venues.