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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1876 ..

In cities around Australia, including here in Canberra, we have seen venues close as people have moved to inner city apartments, attracted to the lifestyle of being in the thick of the action. But once they settle in they start complaining about the noise and unsavoury characters that they believe are hanging around. For venues that have been operating for decades to be forced to close because a block of units has been built next door is heartbreaking for the owners, patrons and performers. The Gypsy Bar is a case in point. It was first forced to move and eventually forced to close down.

The Gypsy Bar was a place I really enjoyed going to. I have listened to many different live music gigs there and had an incredibly good time at that place. It has been hard to find a venue that replaces what the Gypsy Bar had to offer. But there is some hope. Around Australia we have seen commonsense eventually prevailing. After the closure of several venues in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane—and there were extensive legal battles over others—the Brisbane City Council has released its draft Valley Music Harmony Plan. In December last year the Victorian government’s Live Music Task Force released their report. As this government here in the ACT loves nothing more than a good plan or draft report, I think there is reason enough for the government to come on board with this motion.

The draft Valley Music Harmony Plan and the report of the Victorian Live Music Task Force were both developed in conjunction with stakeholders and have the same aims as this motion. They recommend existing rights protection for live music venues and recognise the value of live music. I attended the forum that Ms Tucker has talked about. I remember clearly from that forum not only the discussion about the problems with existing rights recognition but also the fact that, over the last decade, we have seen so many venues disappear that there are not a lot of venues left to protect their rights. We need to be proactive about allowing live music venues to come back into areas where they once thrived.

I do not think it is just about existing rights; we also have to look at the rights that have been lost and how we can reinstate them. As this motion states, live music is valuable for young people and wider cultural development. Through the Canberra plan we have seen that this government is desperate to have Canberra as a vibrant, dynamic city. They want thousands more to move into Civic and experience the lifestyle on offer in the heart of Canberra. However, the reason why these people will move—the vibrancy and dynamism—will be lost if nothing is done. I think it was an oversight of the Canberra plan that it did not recognise the value of live music. Young people were conspicuously absent from much of the Canberra plan and that is a major disappointment as well.

I think one of the important considerations of this motion is that we would be able to support the local community. It was disappointing that, when the ACT hosted the National Australia Day Concert for 2004 and the naming of Australian of the Year for 2004, up on that stage there were no local bands. We have a great number of local bands here in the ACT. Had they had more venues, to enable them to expand and get better experience and work on their craft and their art, they would have made an amazing contribution to that concert. Instead we shipped in performers from out of town and the opportunity to showcase Canberra to Australia was lost.

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