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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3521 ..

funding, through various programs, live music events for young people such as Indyfest and the Fatback Festival; funding young people to organise and stage live music events through InterACT grants; including provisions in the Liquor Act to enable licensed premises and special events, under strict provisions, to serve alcohol at all age events; allowing events for persons under the age of 18 to be held on licensed premises where prohibition guidelines are followed; and allowing performers under the age of 18 to perform music in licensed premises.

Another measure that is used by the government is youth representation on relevant bodies. For example, the ACT Cultural Council and its committees, which include youth representation, assess grant applications for young people’s participation in live music. Young people assess Youth InterACT grants according to youth participation principles and Youth InterACT guidelines. Live at Lunchtime is one example of a project that increases young people’s access to live music. That project, which received funding through the last arts funding program, supported the performance of young bands comprising year 11 and year 12 students at Canberra colleges. The project, which is progressing well, demonstrates strong potential for future development.

Young people were represented in the July music forum and the Youth Coalition was also represented. Members of the forum agreed that these concerns either could be directly addressed or could be significantly progressed through the establishment of a music association. Members might care to go to the Tuggeranong Arts Centre to experience the strong programs that are run in that area. In addition to assisting in the establishment of a music association, the government, together with the Cultural Council, will invite a number of young people to participate in the assessment of applications for funding for music projects through the arts funding program.

That program will ensure that young people with emerging talents acquire an in-depth knowledge of the funding process. The government is also in the process of developing an event-planning guide that will provide detailed and accessible information to event organisers and will specifically include practical guidance for people organising all age events and events for younger people. The third issue for consideration relates to noise from live and recorded music. The Canberra plan, which charts the future development of Canberra, identifies a rapid increase in residential density in Civic as well as in our town and group centres whilst acknowledging that a parallel development of the recreational and cultural vibrancy of those centres is required.

Many cities have found a need to revise their noise management practices to accommodate new mixes of residential, recreational, cultural and traffic activity in their urban centres. It would be a tragedy if inadequate noise management practices stifled the cultural vibrancy being sought by people moving to areas of urban density, and this definitely includes noise from live and recorded music. The government is developing an integrated approach to ensure that noise issues are appropriately managed in Canberra and that the amenity of residents is adequately considered as the residential density in our city increases.

Noise issues can be divided into two areas—noise regulation and noise attenuation. Noise regulation refers to the legal framework that establishes and enforces appropriate noise levels. A number of noise zones have been established across the ACT with differing levels of noise allowable at different times of the day. Noise attenuation refers

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