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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1872 ..

includes and provides opportunities for local groups, emerging bands, musicians, DJs and so on.

Diagonally above the Gypsy Bar was a shoe shop that, because of the changing nature of retail, closed around 1996. A coffee shop, Cafe Macchiato, then opened up and in 1997 extended its reach to become a late night bourbon bar. The live music from the Gypsy could be heard in the bar above. The Macchiato’s owners looked to the sound and environment regulations and, in the end, the Gypsy’s business was made impossible. After moving to a new venue, followed by several court cases—the last of which the Gypsy lost—the Gypsy had to close.

Cafe Macchiato is doing quite well but it does not host live music; it simply sells alcohol, coffee and food. A new live music venue in Canberra is Toast. It is just up on the Boulevard Plaza behind ActewAGL House. It has also had some trouble with noise from punters spilling out of the venue at night during an entertainment break to have a cigarette and disturbing the rest of the guests of the nearby Waldorf. As far as I am aware none of the units, which were recently installed in what was an office building, have double-glazed windows.

Indeed, while we are talking about inner city residents being disturbed by noise, I am reminded of the residents in the apartments just next to Canberra Times Fountain, outside the Canberra Centre, moving into this new, exotic setting and then complaining about the noise of skateboards. Anyway, the loss of the Gypsy Bar was quite significant both to the entertainment landscape in Canberra in general and in the opportunities available to young people to make a creative contribution to their, and our, culture.

Recent analysis across Australia and in other developed nations points to the significance of cultural vitality as an indicator and as an attractor for economic strength. The Australian Local Government Association’s 2002-03 State of the Regions report applies four indices—cultural diversity; same-sex couples; innovation, patents; and bohemian—arts activities—to Australian regions to an analysis of regional development potential in its examination of what is known as “the Florida effect.” There are measurable economic as well as self-evident social benefits to public policy support for an active, creative culture.

The question of supporting live music and live performance more generally is not just of interest in Canberra. Over the past few years there have been fairly major investigations in Brisbane; New South Wales; with Australia Council support; and, most recently, Melbourne. I have information on most of this work in my office if the government or members are interested. Common threads emerge in all this work: the need to establish zones that are music and culture friendly; the value of some form of existing rights protection so that venues cannot be closed down by usurpers through spurious noise complaints; the importance of a diverse range of support mechanisms for new and young musicians; and the benefits of collaborative promotion and marketing programs.

Around the middle of last year these issues of existing rights legislation and the limits of the live music scene in Canberra were raised in the Canberra Times. As there was clearly a wider interest in the matters I organised a public forum here at the Assembly. It was extraordinarily well attended. I have the contact details of all the attendees who represented a wide cross-section of interested people, including producers, musicians,

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