Scrap SA lockout laws and launch Premier’s gig guide to save live music
A landmark inquiry into SA’s live music industry wants the government to ditch crippling late-night trading rules and create a Premier’s Gig Guide. It lists ways to save “the joy” live music brings.
A months-long South Australian parliamentary inquiry into the health of the state’s live music industry has handed down its recommendations to the government about how to best invest in and support the sector.
It recommends 12 actions the government could take to bolster the sector, including scrapping controversial lockout laws and breaking the “insurance chokehold” by exploring options for a state-based insurance scheme.
It also recommends a regular ‘Premier’s Gig Guide’ be produced and made publicly available to promote live music offerings, and that ‘Community Right to Buy’ legislation be investigated so the community can collectively finance the preservation of important live music venues.
The report is the culmination of months of hearings by an SA Parliament Select Committee, chaired by independent MLC Tammy Franks and established in September 2024 to examine the impacts of venue closures and what cultural infrastructure was required for a healthy sector.
Franks told InDaily that she was concerned more live music venues would close without the government taking immediate action on the recommendations of the Select Committee.
“I think the time to act is now, because we’ve already lost a lot of skills in the sector, whether it’s sound technicians or the like, as they found other jobs during COVID,” she said.
“We’re losing the culture in many ways. We can’t abandon the joy that it brings into people’s lives.”
| Sponsored |
You might like
The committee found that in the past four years, 27 per cent of live music venues in South Australia had closed, with the industry facing multiple coinciding challenges like the rising costs of rent and insurance, inner city development and noise complaints.
Changed audience behaviour from COVID-19 was also to blame for the industry’s woes, as was the popularity of at-home entertainment and the cost of living, plus the impact of the Late Night Trading Code of Practice.
“Venues are at a crisis point, and problems cannot be solved unless there is investment in the industry,” the report reads.
UNESCO City of Music general manager Joe Hay told InDaily, the recommendations were welcome,” but it’s about how it’s done, how it’s implemented”.
“It’s the implementation that’s important – who takes hold of it and runs with it,” he said.
“The fact that it has bipartisan support is really positive. If they’re able to make reforms on a cultural level, while enabling and inspiring those who have the passion and drive to actually want to do this stuff, then it’ll be successful.”
Of the 12 recommendations, one is to declare live and creative venues ‘Grassroots Venues’, which would give them status, support and relief under the Liquor Licensing Act.
“We heard a lot of evidence about the impact of not just the Late Night Trading Code of Practice, but also liquor licensing regimes in general,” Franks said.
“We’ve come a little way with the small venues license in its first incarnation, but it’s still got a long way to go to ensure that we’re allowing live music to thrive, not choking it at its core.”
Subscribe for updates
It was also recommended that the lockout laws regime – which means patrons cannot enter a venue after 3 am – be scrapped and “replaced with a new safety strategy”. Failing this, it was recommended that another review of the Late Night Trading Code of Practice be undertaken “with a particular reference to its detrimental impact on live music venues and a view to removing unnecessary imposts”
Franks said creating Community Right to Buy legislation – another recommendation of the Committee – would empower the community to save “iconic” institutions by coming together to purchase venues.
“It’s something that’s worked in the UK and we’ve seen instances across Australia where the community has rallied,” she said.
“In the past we’ve had government institutions step in and preserve what is an important part of our culture.
“In this day and age, where you’ve got the ability to talk to each other online, where communities are able to connect and work together to crowdfund, I suspect you would also have this tool and not need to rely on government support.”
The report also said a new, state-based insurance scheme would break the “current insurance chokehold on the live music industry and festivals”.
The inquiry heard that insurance premiums for live music venues around the world were unsustainable, and insurers were increasingly averse to insuring entertainment operations. Public liability insurance was the killer for a number of venues, it heard, including East End institution Sugar.
It was recommended the government explore options for an insurance scheme and look to the Tasmanian Government’s recently announced TasInsure scheme.
“The role for the state to step back in to remove monopolies is quite pressing here, and in Tasmania the Rockliff government is really leading the way,” Franks said.
And a ‘Premier’s Gig Guide’ should be established, the report recommends, to promote live music venues, gigs and Adelaide’s status as a UNESCO City of Music.
“We’d love it if the Premier were to step up and take ownership in the UNESCO City of Music,” Franks said.
“I certainly hope the Premier is interested in lending the support of the state government to do it. I don’t imagine he’ll be the one pulling together all the information, but it would be fantastic if the Premier had a resource that was being handed out at the local train stations or as people arrive in the city of Adelaide to know what the options were around them to catch a gig.”
Arts Minister Andrea Michaels told InDaily in a statement that “live music venues are incredibly important and I appreciate the recommendations made by the Select Committee” and they now would be considered.
“Since coming to government, the Malinauskas Government has invested millions to promote and support the live music sector, including with our new State Cultural Policy, our venue improvement grants and dedicated See it Live program,” she said.
“We continue to consider the best ways to safeguard significant live music venues in the CBD and wider South Australian community.”
