As states like New South Wales and Queensland continue to battle with troublesome lockout legislation that’s put nightlife and live music in each state in a chokehold, there’s finally some good news to report on the nightlife legislation front.
As Rip It Up reports, one of the more curious tenets of South Australia’s Liquor Licensing system was officially repealed this week with the passing of a welcome new amendment by South Australian Parliament.
The new amendment, part of Attorney-General John Rau’s response to a review of the Late Night Code, will remove the need for licensed venues to apply for “entertainment consent” in order to host live music and other entertainment between 11am and midnight.
As noise restrictions are already covered by separate provisions, the law has been criticised as a needless and ineffectual piece of legislation that only serves to frustrate business owners, who find their licenses contingent on limiting events according to the liquor board’s whims.
“Entertainment consent” meant that venues had to specify not only the days and times live music would be played, but their genre as well. The law made South Australia the only state in the country where the Liquor Licensing Commissioner presides over the kind of music played in venues.
It even took into account instrumentation. As Rip It Up point out, approved instrumentation for Light Square’s Higher Ground includes “Andean, Ancient Greek, Christian Country, Indian Asian, Latin Freestyle, Gregorian Chant, Medieval, Opera, Polka, Blue Grass” genres.
It’s not just some outdated piece of ignored legislation either. Glenelg’s Dublin Hotel was taken to court after it was discovered hosting DJs mixing tunes on the premises despite only being licensed to host traditional Irish music.
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“The ‘culture cops’ have long wasted precious police time monitoring licensed venues,” said Greens MLC Tammy Franks. “It’s an incredible waste of public resources, so we’re glad that this reform has been voted through today.”
“Planning consents already control entertainment and noise output, so this doesn’t reduce residential amenity,” Renew Adelaide founder and former Live Music Office staffer Ianto Ware told Rip It Up back in February “It merely fixes a double up in regulation to produce a clearer system,” he said.
While noise restrictions will still be in place and venues are only exempt before 12am, venue owners can rest a little easier knowing there’s one less headache to deal with and one less $500 fee to pay if they want to host some live music.
