Qld's ID Scanning Legislation Is Hurting Brisbane's Live Music Venues

Following reports that bars and clubs are cutting staff and losing money after a year of compulsory ID scans, concerns are now being raised about live music venues in Fortitude Valley which are still being classified as nightclubs under Queensland government legislation.

As ABC reported this week, a number of bars and clubs are calling for an overhaul of the system.

They come after 12 months of compulsory ID scanning in safe night precincts with many bars and club operators claiming they are being punished by the laws with sharp drops in patronage.

The laws require venues that stay open past midnight in the prescribed areas to scan IDs after 10pm.

Across the world, it is not uncommon for a gig to run well past midnight, but after encountering a number of barriers because of the scanners, one live music venue in the precinct, The Zoo changed its licence earlier in the year to no longer stay open past 12am.

With an independent review into the scanners currently underway, owner Pixie Weyand spoke to The Music saying, “For us we are luckier in that we had the ability to make the choice to shut it down. We also couldn't afford the associated costs, it simply wasn't sustainable for us.”

However, with a number of massive events coming up in the Valley, including BIGSOUND and Valley Fiesta, venues like The Zoo will now have to apply for late night permits.

“The problem for us now is that if we want to stay open later, we have to apply for an extension and with that we have to pay fees. It limits us from moving forward or gaining any potential extra revenue or growing as a business freely.

“We’ve got Valley Fiesta coming up which is a council run event and we have to apply to stay open later and again we have to pay money to allow us to stay open. It shouldn’t be like that, more flexibility is needed. You are kind of at the mercy always of laws and legislations, there’s all these hoops to jump through.”

With the purpose of the scanners designed to curb alcohol and drug-fuelled violence, Weyand said, “I felt like a lot of common sense has been taken from us as a venue and we just had to do what the machine told us which had no logic behind it. We had to turn people away who had paid good money for a ticketed event and were obviously over the age of 30 and simply didn't have an ID on them.”

“We are a low risk venue. We take a lot of pride in being a safe venue and we care a lot about the people that come inside.

“Now that the scanners are gone, things are much smoother. We’ve seen zero difference in terms of having a "positive" impact. It hasn’t had an effect on violence or anything like that.”

With the review still ongoing, Weyand thinks music venues are being unfairly targeted as they “don’t operate past midnight now but are still under the same license as a nightclub”.

"We're not a nightclub or a late-night bar, we are a destination venue open three nights a week for maybe four hours a night.

“I think that music venues are a whole different kettle of fish to regular pubs and clubs.

“Us and The Tivoli, we’re not open any nights other than show nights… so why are we as a live music venue operating under the same legislation as a nightclub?”