Month: November 2018

A Shorten Labor Government will introduce the most comprehensive contemporary music policy by an Australian government.
From encouraging more Australian children to learn and play music, to assisting young bands reach overseas markets, to more support for live music and ensuring fans aren’t being ripped off when they buy tickets – Labor wants to see more Australians making music, listening to music, and seeing music live.
The music industry contributes nearly $6 billion to the Australian economy each year. According to ARIA, the Australian music industry will be worth $100 billion globally within a decade. Live music alone supports around 64,000 jobs in Australia. More Australians attend live music than sport.
Labor wants to make sure the live music industry continues to grow, and to see more Australians with stable jobs in a thriving local industry.
Labor’s music policy all comes back to one single objective: We want to inspire the next generation of Australian artists and to see more international success stories.
Labor wants to make sure Australian kids have the chance to learn music, regardless of where they live. While many Australian kids are lucky enough to have parents who encourage them to learn an instrument at a young age, more and more kids now rely on their school to learn to play an instrument. To help schools facilitate learning, a Shorten Labor Government will provide $7 million in extra support for music education and music teachers. The funding will go towards expanding school programs such as SongMakers which brings musicians into schools, and Song Room, dedicated to providing music and art lessons to disadvantaged kids.
One of the biggest barriers for younger musicians is having a space to practice together. Labor will provide $5 million in grant funding to establish and grow music hubs around the country. This funding will provide support to councils, schools, neighborhood centres or community spaces to set up a music hub where students and musicians in the local area can come, learn, collaborate and practice. Funding could be used for soundproofing, equipment, instruments, acoustic assessments or refurbishments.
Labor wants more emerging artists to have the opportunity to record an album for public release and to play at live music venues. Labor will commit over $10m to the “new Sounds Australia” to deliver the functions of the office of live music to help them work with local governments to remove barriers for live music venues around the country. This means more places for young musicians to play, but also more venues for music lovers to see live performances locally. Labor will also double the funding to the New Recordings program to help a further ten new Australian artists record an EP. The current program allows for ten albums to be recorded a year, and has helped artists such Courtney Barnett and Alex the Astronaut gain an audience.
One of the key foundations of Sounds Australia is to showcase Australian music overseas. Labor’s commitment to the new Sounds Australia will expand its reach and build on the 1500 Australian groups that have been showcased at international events in over 23 countries. This means more musicians have a pathway to staying in the industry and more Australian music is heard here and around the world. Part of showcasing our music overseas will be small grants that are made available to help promote emerging Australian bands around the world, particularly in new markets such as Asia. Sounds Australia and the Association of Artists Managers will work together and, when needed, provide modest grants to assist with practical measures to help bands get a foothold including costs of airfares, local management and connections and assistance with booking venues. These grants could mean the difference between a new band making it in a new market or not.
Labor’s music policy will also include measures such as:

• cracking down on ticket scalping websites such as Viagogo
• increased funding for music and mental health programs.

The policies we are announcing today are aimed at boosting every aspect of Australian music. We want Australian music to be heard, Australian artists to stay in the industry and the next generation to be inspired. And we want to make it easier for music fans to buy tickets to the bands they love.
We believe in what our songwriters, musicians, performers and music industry do. We think it matters. Our Australian soundtrack matters. Let’s turn up the volume.
More information on Labor’s policy can be found here.

Labor will give Aussie sports and music fans a fair go, cracking down on ticket gouging which locks fans out of major events.
Labor will introduce a national ban on the use of ticket-buying bot software, which flood ticket websites to purchase the most tickets possible, causing ordinary consumers to miss out.
It is estimated bots account for as much as 30 per cent of the traffic to primary ticketing sites in the moments after a major event goes on sale.
We will also introduce a national cap on the resale price of tickets at 110 per cent of the initial face value.
This will mean fans will get a fair go on accessing tickets to sporting blockbusters, as well as concerts, musicals and theatres.
Ticket scalping is a growing scourge – instead of the sales going to our footy clubs and local businesses, artists and the music industry, fraudsters are building profit models and forcing consumers to pay exorbitant prices for tickets, or missing out completely.
Labor will act. A Shorten Labor Government will introduce a cap of 110 per cent of initial face value price for any resold tickets and make sure laws are consistent across all states and territories through federal legislation.
This crackdown will aim to cut the business model for websites like ViaGogo, which relies on selling tickets to music and sports fans at exorbitant, inflated prices and can often leave consumers stranded with useless tickets that have been sold multiple times.
Labor will also ban the use of ticket-buying bot software, which prevents ordinary consumers from accessing popular concerts and major events.
This will ensure genuine fans get fair access to tickets, and won’t have to compete with sophisticated software designed to buy as many tickets as possible when popular events go on sale online.
A Labor Government will also boost consumer protection by:

• Strengthening disclosure requirements for all ticket sellers; and
• Allowing for the fair resale of tickets, preventing primary ticket sellers cancelling legitimately purchased on-sold tickets
• A national ban on speculative ticket listing

The ACCC will conduct a review of these measures after twelve months of operation, with a view to further strong action if required.
We understand that consumers need the ability to easily on-sell tickets if they need to, and others may want to purchase tickets at the last minute. These reforms won’t prevent that – they will simply mean that ticket sellers can’t significantly profit from desperate fans.
The Liberals have been too paralysed by their own instability to take action on this issue, only introducing disclosure requirements for resellers last month and failing to act on ticket gouging at all.
Labor will prioritise Australian sports and music fans to make sure consumers get an overdue fair go.

South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young stands in solidarity with the young people striking for climate action in Adelaide today.

“The young people striking today give me great hope that the planet will be in good hands in the future, but we need to pass on something worth fighting for,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“Queensland is on fire, Sydney is under water and farmers are facing extreme drought. Young people are showing more leadership on climate change than the Morrison Government.

“While young people strike, the WWF has concluded that Australia has the worst biodiversity management record out of 100 nations. We have a responsibility to future generations, to our unique flora and fauna, and to the rest of the world to lead the charge on saving this planet.

“Our nation is experiencing the effects of climate change here and now. If we want the young people protesting in Adelaide to have a bright future on a liveable planet, politicians need to do their jobs now.”

The Australian Greens have announced $10 million per year of funding into ending HIV in Australia, with a further $1 million for national campaigns that break down HIV discrimination and stigma, ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday 1 December.
“We have the chance to end HIV in Australia. The Greens will invest $10 million a year into organisations that do the incredibly important work of combating and preventing HIV,” said Senator Richard Di Natale, leader of the Australian Greens and a doctor.
“We welcome the government’s announcement of HIV self-testing on the Therapeutic Goods Administration – a move that will go some way towards reducing the harm that stigma causes, but it doesn’t yet go far enough.”
“While Australia has had some success in reducing the transmission of HIV, we need to plan a process that will result in ending HIV.”
“We’re also committing an additional $1 million per year into national campaigns that break down HIV stigma and discrimination, encourage safer sex and encourage regular testing,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens LGBTIQ+ spokesperson.
“We know that reducing stigma and discrimination will lead to more people getting tested which is essential to eliminating HIV.”