'Live Music Venues Are On Life Support': Largest E-petition In Victoria's History Tabled To Govt

MP Fiona Patten has thrown her support behind the Save Our Scene campaign today, tabling the group's now 15,000+ signature strong petition to parliament.

Patten is calling on the Victorian state government to support live music venues throughout the COVID-19 crisis. 

Appearing at a press conference today, the Leader of The Reason Party and Member for Northern Metropolitan said that "Live music venues are on life support, and Victorians would like the government to step in to support them."

"The e-petition ‘Support Live Music Venues’ is the largest e-petition in the history of parliament - over 15,000 signatures and that’s because thousands of Victorian’s love live music," continued Patten. 

"Over 100,000 people would gather at these venues each Saturday night  - a grand final every weekend. Yesterday the Premier said the best experiences are right here in Victoria and that’s because we’re the music capital of Australia. Six years ago Labor committed to save live music and we need them to save it again.

"Thousands of musicians, crew and bar staff have been without works for months. Millions of Victorians cannot wait to go to a gig again. We need to ensure that there’s a place for live music to happen. It is vital for our cultural and economic health.

"The government has committed to helping the night time  economy, but it’s policy did not helps hundreds of live music venues - only 12 venues were eligible. I don’t know about the government, but my idea of the night time economy is not the local pokie den - it’s place like the Tote, Revs and Old Bar. 

"We need the government to save these venues, we need to Save Our Scene."

The Save Our Scene campaign was launched earlier this month, calling for the state Government to save venues "on the brink of collapse in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdowns".

Patten was today joined by members of the Save Our Scene team - 170 Russell's Ben Thompson, The Croxton's Simone Ubaldi, The Tote & Bar Open's Jon Perring, The Old Bar's Liam Matthews and Revolver Upstairs' Lucie Ribush.

They are calling for "needs-based financial assistance to protect small to mid-size enterprise music venues until they are able to trade sustainably, with the 200 music venues that Music Victoria has identified as critical to our scene, for the government to "put in place a clear and balanced roadmap to reopen at full capacity", "provide a fund to support the relaunching of the industry when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted", "for the government to waive the 2021 licensee fees and "a moratorium on evictions for live music venues for 12 months".