There is a struggle happening in Australia right now. The New South Wales government has imposed strict regulations against live music festivals, forcing many festivals to be canceled.
This is all in response to the publicized drug-related deaths from the past year, including two deaths from Defqon 1. At the head of these laws is the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian. She has promised that the government will do all that they can to shut festivals down.
However, people are attempting to fight back with a petition. The “Don’t Kill Live Music” petition has reached over 100,000 signatures, but still has a ways to go to reach its goal of 150k. They are urging government officials to reconsider the regulations they’ve put in place.
“We want our music culture to be safe and inclusive,” the petition reads, “Onerous and ill-considered regulation will not save lives.”
They are not saying that nothing should be done to make safer festivals. Instead, they want a roundtable group to be formed. This will allow the government to work with the music industry to develop safety protocols that benefit all sides. That’s not asking too much, right?
The petition and all of its details can be found here. And if you live in or near Sydney, Australia, they will be hosting a rally in support of the petition at Hyde Park on February 21st.
