New Bill Introduced Today Calls For Jobs For Musicians & Axing Of Venue Restrictions

NSW Labor will introduce a Bill in Parliament today which aims to promote jobs for musicians, as well as remove bans and restrictions on live music in venues across the state. 

Just a day after the launch of the Save Our Stages NSW campaign, NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay confirmed the news at a press conference in Sydney today, saying the Bill will "seek to encourage live music in New South Wales and build on the need for New South Wales to have jobs in a variety of industries".

"This is all about putting musicians to work," McKay said.

"It's all about creating jobs and it's about celebrating the incredible talent we have here in Australia and particularly here in New South Wales."

Shadow Minister for Music and The Night Time Economy, John Graham MLC, added, "At the moment, in more than 600 venues across New South Wales... music is banned.

"These are all restrictions on work. We support regulated noise, we don't support banning music.

"And that's what this Bill does. It doesn't change noise regulation, it will let these musicians do their job in more than 600 venues across the state."

A number of artists also appeared at the press conference today to support the newly-announced Bill, including KLP, Karma County's Brendan Gallagher, Body Type drummer Cecil Coleman and The Preatures singer Isabella Manfredi.

"[New South Wales] can be a vibrant, beautiful place to foster young Australian artistry and that's what we want to encourage here," Manfredi said.

"Yes, it's about jobs... but it's also about Australian voices and that's what I'm passionate about.

"If we do not get the support, if live music venues don't get the support, that's it. There's no other safety net for us after that."

Sign the Save Our Stages petition here.