Page 1161 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 30 May 2007
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warns people who want to buy new, trendy property in some inner city zones that the music venues were there first.
It is disappointing that there is a lack of music policy within the ACT government. I also find it very disappointing that the Minister for the Arts, Mr Stanhope, did not include any mention of music in his 2006-08 action statement for the arts. I recognise the small amount of funding that goes to local musicians through artsACT and the CMD events unit, but the government does not appear to have a policy or provide any direction on the issues of music, live music or musicians.
While I support Mr Gentleman’s motion today, I note with some cynicism that all the ACT government needs to do is reopen books it had open three years ago and complete the work that it said it would do three years ago. There is nothing new here. Most of the solutions have already been figured out. It is just a matter of the government doing what it said it would do. I also note that Llewellyn Hall, which is another prime venue, has closed.
In closing, I would like to make mention of the ACT government’s one and only arts facility that is solely dedicated to music, the Ainslie Arts Centre. Many community organisations were hit hard by the February freak hailstorm. The arts centre was hit very hard and is still struggling. I am not sure whether repairs have begun, but it is very important to the music scene in Canberra that they do. A thousand people go through that building every week. It supports many Canberra musicians. Yet at the time of writing this, there were no repairs. I hope that the minister gets onto this issue and provides some of the necessary support that our musicians deserve.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Minister for Industrial Relations) (11.08): I thank Mr Gentleman for raising this issue and Mr Mulcahy and Dr Foskey for their contributions. A number of issues have been raised in this debate, some of which fall within my portfolio responsibilities as Minister for Planning. I will take the opportunity to comment a little as education minister as well but I will have to leave the matters that lie within the arts portfolio for the Chief Minister to respond to.
What we have hit on here is an issue of finding the appropriate balance within our planning system to ensure that we are able to foster an environment where both residential activities and live music activities can operate with some harmony. Dr Foskey has highlighted some of the planning decisions that have been made in other jurisdictions, and I think that is the correct approach, particularly within the centre of Canberra, where we can seek to zone activities such that a proportion of the city is dedicated for live music venues and does not include any residential development.
Unfortunately, with the organic nature of development in the city, from time to time there is going to be conflict. Mr Mulcahy has observed that the Waldorf and Toast are such an example of this having occurred. It is disappointing that live music venues have been suffering as a result of a number of factors, as previous speakers have observed. The problem is finding a balance. Mr Gentleman is correct to highlight the issue of Friday and Saturday nights in particular and what degree of flexibility can be
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