NSW enacts laws to allow live music venues to stay open longer

The NSW State Government has passed legislation that will allow live music and performance venues to stay open longer statewide.

The new laws will allow venues to stay open for an additional 60 minutes, including trading for liquor licences, in an effort to help the state’s live music scene recover.

In addition, they also will allow musicians and crew to use venue loading zones for transportation of equipment. This means that they’ll no longer be given parking tickets or other fines for using loading zones to unpack or load equipment.

Finally, the new laws also see the removal of the ‘high risk’ category for music festivals that saw a string of them put under very strict licensing regulations at the beginning of 2019.

APRA AMCOS chief executive, Dean Ormston, welcomed the news.

“We applaud the NSW Government which has yet again delivered regulatory reforms to incentivise the presentation of live music to support the revival of central business districts, metropolitan and regional centres throughout the state as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

Live Music Office’s John Wardle wanted to thank shadow minister for live music John Graham in particular for his efforts pushing for reform.

Last week, the NSW Opposition pushed for the changes in an effort to undo what they called the State Government’s “war on music”.

The Opposition continued this push this week, with Graham saying that a reversal in the fortunes of the state’s “beaten-down broken-down” venues “which have copped it every which way” was essential in revitalising the state’s live music industry.

Wardle also explained that the loading zone reform is the first of its kind in Australia, and that Live Music Office has been campaigning for it for a while.

“Parking tickets for musicians unable to access loading zones is an ever-present risk for industry workers, and where a night’s pay can be lost by loading essential equipment in and out venues,” he said.

“The provision for musicians to use loading zones has been a long-term campaign for the Live Music Office. Having it now legislated is an Australian first and we will be seeking to have similar approaches investigated around the country.”