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Keep Melbourne Live
The Greens would like to congratulate the organisers and participants of yesterday's very successful rally. It was great to see so many generations and genres represented amongst the many thousands who attended. The message to the government was clear - live music doesn't cause violence.
The accord signed this week to reduce pressure on live music licence conditions is a first step, not a solution, the Greens say.
Greens MLC Greg Barber said "The licence conditions that killed the Tote were put on at the discretion of the Commissioner and could have been removed at the stroke of a pen. There are many, many other venues with the same conditions, and lots of pubs that won't run any kind of music at all because it's too much of a hassle."
"The announcement shows that the government knows that they have a problem. They're proposing a review that concludes some time after the election and that's not good enough," Mr Barber said.
"We'll continue working with live music venues to get this accord implemented speedily. We understand there are over 600 of these across Victoria, so there is a lot of work to do," Mr Barber said.
Click here to view a copy of the live music accord as displayed on the SLAM rally website
The Greens support live music. The Greens’ four simple steps can save Victoria's live music and provide more stability than the current accord put forward by the Brumby Government.
1. Target violence, not talent: Make the trigger/s for special licence conditions a history of violence, levels of alcohol consumption, late night operations or patron numbers, NOT the presence of live or amplified music.
2. Strike the right balance: Liquor licensing policies and laws should support the aims of a state Live Music Policy, which should make it clear that changes to licence conditions must be assessed for their impact on the viability of live music venues as well as reducing alcohol related violence.
3. Give live music the attention it deserves: As a major feature of Melbourne’s culture, protecting and promoting live music should be a key job for the Arts and Tourism ministers. They should create a forum where all parts of the live music community can be a sounding board for proposed changes to licence conditions.
4. Oppose the 2am lockout: The state government has a bill before the Parliament to introduce a 2am lockout. The Greens oppose this. The 2008 lockout trial showed that it simply does not work, leaving people wandering the streets and making everyone less safe.
It has been reported that the Greens had voted against a Liberal motion in Parliament to save live music. This is not correct. The Greens abstained from voting on the motion as often happens when a motion has several parts, some of which can be supported and some cannot be - as was the case with this one. The motion had no legislative status. We made it clear in the debate that the link between live music and the requirement for security under the licensing rules should be removed. mps.vic.greens.org.au/node/1618
The closure of the Tote shone a light on an anomaly that few people were aware of – that under liquor licencing rules, the presence of live or amplified music can trigger a requirement for security if there are between one and 100 patrons present. This is fine for large venues, but is a cost that smaller venues can't afford and so less and less of them are now having live music. This is making it very hard for Victoria's musicians to play to live audiences.
Preventing harm from alcohol-related violence is crucial. However, live music does not cause violence. Live music must be addressed as part of a commitment to a strong and robust music culture, not as an liquor licensing issue.
Click here to read a Members Statement on liquor licensing as it relates to live music venues made by Greg Barber in Legislative Council on 23 February 2010
Click here to be redirected to the petition created by "Fair Go 4 Live Music", and tell the major parties that you support live music venues in Melbourne
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It has come to my attention, through http://musicdoesntmakeyouviolent.com/johnbrumby.html , that there are 3 marginal Labor seats that could potentially be put under pressure in the forthcoming election.
Personally, I became a disillusioned Labor voter some years ago and have voted GREEN ever since.
I am outraged by this assault on Live Music, having witnessed it first-hand. I recount my recent experience below.
It would be most useful if you could provide details of marginal State & Federal Labor seats. If this Placebo of an Accord is the "best" that Labor Govt. can do, I am sure there are many thousands of music lovers who could assist in knocking a few Pollys off their precarious perches. It wouldn't be too hard to motivate the angry and disenfranchised Music community. I could certainly assist.
I hope you can assist me with the information and anything else that you might deem useful to the cause.
Best wishes,
Martin Cooper
www.martincooper.com.au
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Death by Centimetres - All-out Attack on Live Music
Written by Martin Cooper
Friday, 19 February 2010 13:52
19/02/2010
Last night, a friend invited me to a Brunswick Bar, to see a Band in which her friend plays guitar. I hadn't visited the bar in question before. The Band was a small combo, playing an eclectic mix of Latin, Country and Blues music. The volume was low and a conversation could easily take place while the music was being played.
There were approximately twelve patrons in total – eight playing a round-robin Pool game and four sitting in leather armchairs, listening to the band.
At approximately 10:30pm, two young men walked in. They were dressed innocuously, wearing sneakers, polo-shirts and jeans. I didn’t notice them at all until my friend nudged me and pointed out that they were both wearing holsters and guns; they were the Music Police. I couldn’t believe my eyes! It had all the hallmarks of an undercover operation - plain-clothes police, old “civy” clothes, identification hung around their necks, which could be concealed or produced in an instant.
The Senior Officer, a Sergeant, advised the Manager that she was breaking the law because she had a 3:00am license and was therefore required to have security personnel. The Manager explained that the Band was due to finish at 11:00pm and that there would be no live music beyond that time. The Officer replied that this was irrelevant and that the law is quite clear about the matter.
The Officers then told the Band that it had to stop playing. The members of the Band (they were all over 50 years old) were visibly upset. They explained to the Sergeant that this was their livelihood, that the music wasn’t loud and that the dozen people in the Bar hardly constituted a mob. The Sergeant said that the music was loud, defining loud music as that which interferes with a normal conversation between two people, at 60 centimetres. I later found out that this arbitrary measurement had been written into the legislation to placate the Restaurant trade.
So, has it come to this? Live Music is to be measured with a ruler and compliance enforced with a gun? As a businessman and a musician myself, I can say with considerable authority that this Bar will go out of business if it can’t host live music. It is a local-community Bar, much the same as a local-community Pub. It is a local-community meeting place: Crown Casino and other Beer Barns are not.
Small, inner-city Pubs and Bars do not breed violence nor does live music. Live music edifies people; it makes them happy. Where were the riots at the AC/DC concerts? Alcohol was available. All I could see after the concert were many thousands of happy faces. Unfortunately, not everyone has $150.00 to see AC/DC however the music of which I was ultimately deprived last night, cost nothing. Typically, inner-city Pubs and Bars offer free admittance and the musicians earn very little, sometimes work for nothing at all except the love of their craft. It is ironic to note that a General Practitioner does 6 years of specific study whereas a musician spends a lifetime studying, with very few ever gaining the status of even a C-grade G.P.
Musicians are purveyors of happiness, of culture and Art and these small, community, inner-city venues are their modus operandi. They are not the breeding ground of hooligans but rather, burgeoning musicians and vibrant communities.
That in this State we love, small venues and music are under threat from ill-advised, reactive, regressive and manifestly unfair laws, is blight on this Government and on the values for which Labor once stood.
If the Victorian Labor Government does not address this attack on Live Music and Community, it should be deserted in turn, by those constituents whose hearts it has broken, by moving 60 million centimetres away from its Heartland.
I urge all people who love music and justice, to attend the SLAM Rally on February 23.
Martin Cooper