THE JADE MONKEY

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:42): I rise to speak about the future vibrancy of Adelaide and the future of The Jade Monkey. Members would probably be well aware of The Jade Monkey as an institution within the live music culture of our capital city of this state and they would also be aware that The Jade Monkey is currently closed; in fact, that is a situation that has been ongoing for almost half a year now.

In early 2012, The Jade Monkey found that its 10-year lease was not to be renewed and that its old site on Twin Street was to be the site of a development. At that point Premier Jay Weatherill actually took the step of going on triple j radio and commending The Jade Monkey for the role that it plays in the cultural life of our state. He said, and I quote:

It's a fantastic entry-level venue for not only bands, but people watching bands that may not want to go to the really big venues. The prices are right for students and for a lot of bands just starting out. It's a fantastic entry-level institution.

There was a 4,300 strong (in fact, I think it was even greater than that) online petition, petitioning the Lord Mayor, Stephen Yarwood, to save The Jade Monkey. There was great community outpouring and public meetings. I commend the Premier for recognising that losing The Jade Monkey and the response to that is something to be taken seriously and for the work that they have done. In February 2012 the Premier said:

There are a lot of buildings that I think they'd fit in, and we also need to clear some red tape, because they say the liquor licensing laws and some of the planning regulations can make it a bit hard for these venues. That's what we're talking about at the moment. To not only get The Jade Monkey to stay there, but to get more of these things happen.

Premier Weatherill went on to say on triple j that relocating The Jade to a more suitable location could kickstart a Laneway culture akin to Melbourne's. He said:

This whole idea of getting a laneway activated, getting the small bars and the small live music venues, is an agenda we are trying to develop. That's why we've weighted into this. This is precisely the sort of thing we want to encourage. We don't want these [venues] closing down; we want more of these, rather than fewer of them.

Many people who were concerned about the closure of The Jade Monkey took great comfort in this, and I do commend the government for the work that they have done to try to help The Jade Monkey to find another venue, but what I would say is that, some six months on after the closure of The Jade Monkey and over a year since The Jade Monkey was slated for closure, The Jade Monkey is yet to be able to find a suitable venue. The liquor licensing laws and the Building Code have put up barriers that not even a small venue with the support of the government behind them can overcome.

They have looked at venues, and I believe the former Chesser Cellars was one that had previously been a small wine bar with an entertainment consent. They were unable to utilise that venue, which I believe is their preferred venue, because the upgrades that they would need to make to meet the same regulatory standards that would be required of them now, which were not required of Chesser Cellars, would cost some $50,000 and possibly up to $100,000. This is a prohibitive cost for a small business and is certainly something that they were not willing to take on in terms of their future commitments.

The government has actually identified the St Paul's site as a potential venue for them, but they have found themselves in a conciliation process which appears to be never-ending and this is one of the problems. There is a conciliation process that does not have time frames allocated to it and that, in fact, can be dragged on for the months and months that this is occurring. As a result of this, we have not had a live music venue of The Jade Monkey for over a year in this state, yet we talk about vibrant Adelaide, we talk about laneway culture and we talk about supporting live music. There is a problem here and the problem is within our current laws.

The current laws around liquor licensing need to be overhauled. We do not need a citizens' jury to tell us this, we do not need to wait another six months, we need to get in and we need to reform the liquor licensing regulations now and we need to address the Building Code prohibitions that make it impossible for a small business to activate unused, empty, derelict buildings.