An ugly slinging match has erupted between Soundwave organiser AJ Maddah and the Victorian government. At the centre of the dispute is a statement issued by festival organisers over the weekend claiming the festival will not have a dedicated train line taking punters to the festival site.
As Tone Deaf reported this morning, Public Transport Victoria have apparently advised organisers that “no public transport will be made available for the 2015 Soundwave Event”, meaning punters leaving punters with something of a conundrum. Many have taken their frustrations to social media.
According to Maddah, Soundwave is one of several events that had public transport services suddenly revoked, claiming the decision was made by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to eliminate any potentially competition with Melbourne’s White Night festival, set to take place in the the CBD on Saturday.
Maddah made further allegations, claiming the Department of the Environment warned Soundwave organisers, in writing, not to “complain” or make any mention of the cancellation of public transport. However, the promoter claimed that he would be going public with the documents some time today.
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After one follower claimed that public transport was cancelled because organisers failed to prove “the minimum 150 day notice” (presumably to Public Transport Victoria), Maddah insisted PTV have had dates “since April of last year” and they are “using change of venue as an excuse”.
Meanwhile, as 3AW reports, Transport Minister Jacinta Allan has told media the Government was working with organisers who had failed to meet earlier deadlines. “There’s a number of events that are happening, including Soundwave, this weekend in Melbourne where we are providing – across the weekend – additional public transport services,” she explained.
Indeed, in addition to Soundwave and White Night, which are expected to draw 50 and 600 thousand people respectively, Melbourne will also play host to a racing event at Flemington Racecourse, a Guy Sebastian concert at Rod Laver Arena, the Cricket World Cup at the MCG, and an A-League clash between Melbourne City and Perth at AAMI Park.
“We want to have more conversations with the organisers of Soundwave about the issues that have come up. Can I say, in recent days, there have been conversations. We want to make sure that people can get to events safely, but unfortunately some of the earlier guidelines, as the Premier said last year, weren’t met,” said Ms Allan.
During an appearance on 3AW earlier today, Maddah rubbished the comments, calling them “absolutely incredible” and nonsense. “They’ve been aware of our event and the date since late April, early May, last year,” the outspoken promoter told host Neil Mitchell.
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“That’s when Flemington gave them notice of the event. Quite frankly, ours is an event that’s been going on for years (so) it’s not like it’s a new thing we’ve pulled out of a hat,” the promoter added, also reiterating his Twitter comments, which also saw Maddah referring to Premier Daniel Andrews as a “scumbag”.
“We found out a couple of weeks ago in a lovely letter from the department which was then followed by a letter from the department of planning telling us that should we complain about the public transport, or should we criticise the government or should we say anything about no public transport that they would actually cancel our events permits,” he said.
As the Herald Sun reports, Premier Andrews has also hit back at what he labelled Maddah’s “colourful commentary”, saying Soundwave organisers should have secured public transport “back before we were in government” last year.
“The most important thing (now) is not be arguing with each other, but getting on to see what we can actually deliver,” Mr Andrews said, adding that he and Public Transport Victoria would be speaking with festival organisers to work out the best possible transport offering.
