Peter Garrett Underwhelms With BIGSOUND Keynote

Former Midnight Oil frontman and ex-politician Peter Garrett made little mention of his former band and past political activity as the opening keynote speaker at this year's BIGSOUND.

However he did take time out to question the Abbott government's commitment to music and the arts, saying the "current government doesn't show any enthusiasm for the arts", highlighting the lack of funding for arts in the school curriculum.

Garrett briefly addressed his own time spent as Arts Minister (2007 — 2010), intimating that he often finds himself having to defend how little progress was made during his time in that portfolio. Garrett claims he explains to people that he would 'recuse' himself when it came to votes about music industry issues as it was "a conflict of interest".

What was seen by many in attendance as an underwhelming speech, it was more politician-Garrett on display rather than the fire-in-the-belly-musical-activist-Garrett many remember from his days as a rock hero. Garrett touched on issues hampering the industry (including 'digital disruption', lack of local council connect with arts) but offered very little in the way of hard and fast solutions.

Garrett, who has been busy penning a memoir due next month, moved away from the lecturn at one point to relay just one tale about his days with the Oils — relating an experience of swapping songs with villagers in South Africa.

Mostly though Garrett spoke about the organic nature of creating music and advised upcoming artists to "never waiver" from their goals.

He also scored a few points joking about 5 Seconds Of Summer (who he also stressed that he respected) and death metal ("music is good for you… with the possible exception of death metal).

Garrett's address ended ahead of the 48 minutes he had promised and he quickly left the stage with a wave.