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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-05 Daily Xml
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LIVE MUSIC

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT (Lee) (14:23): Can the Premier inform the house what the government is doing to support live music in South Australia?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:23): Can I say that we are seeking to revitalise the live music culture in South Australia. In the seventies and eighties, Adelaide was a vibrant music city which saw the emergence of legendary Australian bands—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —such as Cold Chisel, The Angels, The Masters' Apprentices—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I'm sure you were down there at some of those concerts, when you had hair. I'm sure you were down there.

Ms Chapman: When you had hair.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. I had quite a bit of hair in those days. You've seen the photos.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: In the seventies the Largs Pier Hotel was perhaps one of the best live music venues in Australia. Jimmy Barnes with Cold Chisel, AC/DC, the Little River Band and The Angels all played there during the early days of their careers. Bon Scott, who later became the lead singer of AC/DC, even met his wife at the Largs Pier Hotel after a gig in 1971, so what a romantic place it was as well.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Let's not forget Mickey Finn.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mickey Finn, let's not forget him, whoever he is. We know that there is no shortage of talented and motivated people in the local music scene, and our task is obviously to create an environment that enables music, musicians, venues and professionals to thrive, and we are doing this, obviously, as part of our commitment to creating a vibrant city centre.

One part of that commitment is to attract more young people into the city to live, to work, to invest and, particularly in the light of recent events, we have to work on the safety of the city so that people do that in a responsible manner. That is why we intend to support what is already working well in this area and also change those things that aren't.

I can announce today that the government is supporting a new Thinker in Residence, Martin Elbourne, to support our efforts to revive Adelaide's live music scene. Martin Elbourne is the live music promoter who was one of the main bookers and executives for the Glastonbury Festival and promoted the first WOMAD Festival with Peter Gabriel. Mr Elbourne brings a wealth of experience in all areas of music industry and brings a global perspective to the issues that will affect the local music scene. He will work with musicians, venues, state and local government as well as anyone else with an interest in live music.

The residency is being hosted by the Don Dunstan Foundation—the first by a non-government organisation. Financial backers of the residency include Arts SA, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide City Council, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, and Regional Development Australia—Barossa.

While the core recurrent funding for the Thinkers in Residence program ends at the end of 2013 as announced in the budget, the government will provide a one-off grant of $185,000 for this live music residency. A staff member from the current thinkers program will also help set up the residency in a part-time capacity. This live music residency will focus on a range of issues that affect live music, like:

supporting the establishment of small bars and new live music venues;

ways to deal with associated liquor licensing, building code, noise and other regulatory challenges; as well as

encouraging live music in places like our wine regions and Port Adelaide.

There has been an enormous amount of support expressed for this live music residency from the community and from industry and we look forward to everyone getting involved. They can get involved by getting onto www.dunstan.org.au.

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