The Presets Slam NSW Govt's Threat To Axe Aus Music Festivals

Kim Moyes of Aussie electro act The Presets has described comments made by the NSW Government as "nuts", in which Premier Mike Baird called for festival organisers to be held accountable for drug use at their events, after a 23-year-old woman was rushed to hospital in a critical condition from a suspected MDMA overdose at Sydney's Field Day event. 

While Baird announced the Government will be reviewing the current system of regulating events and possibly denying permits to festival organisers, NSW Police Minister Troy Grant has said that music festivals in Australia could be shut down permanently if things don't improve to which Moyes questioned in a post on the group's Facebook page. 

"Threatening to shut down NSW music festivals and blaming the organizers for the choices of the attendees ? Nuts," Moyes wrote.

"Tragically, 10 people have been killed on NSW roads between Dec 20 + Jan 2 which has been reported as a 'good result' in relation to the previous years road death tolls. I don't want to trivialize their deaths but no government is threatening to shut down transport. NSW is starting to become a little hard to swallow."

Read the full post below.

As reported by The Daily Telegraph, Baird yesterday said of the suspected drug overdose at Field Day, "In the light of this latest distressing and avoidable incident, I will be asking the relevant ministers to review the current system of regulating events held on public land, including the system for granting permits for public events such as music festivals."

"If new rules and procedures place additional burdens and costs on organisers, so be it — and we will also examine denying permits to organisers who have not done the right thing in the past."

"Enough is enough. This simply has to stop."

Over 180 people were charged with drug offences at Field Day, just months after festival-goers Sylvia Choi and Stefan Woodward reportedly died of drug overdoses at the Stereosonic events.