REPORT ON PROCEEDINGS BEFORE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 6 – PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT THE MUSIC AND ARTS ECONOMY IN NEW SOUTH WALES CORRECTED At Jubilee Room, Parliament House, Sydney on Monday, 26 March 2018 The Committee met at 9:04 am PRESENT The Hon. Paul Green (Chair) The Hon. Catherine Cusack The Hon. John Graham The Hon. Shayne Mallard The Hon. Taylor Martin Monday, 26 March 2018 Legislative Council Page 1 The CHAIR: Welcome to the first hearing of the Portfolio Committee No. 6—Planning and Environment inquiry into the music and arts economy in New South Wales. The inquiry is examining the New South Wales Government's progress in implementing its response to the Sydney Night-Time Economy Roundtable Action Plan, policies to support music and arts culture including permanent and temporary venue spaces, and policy and legislation options drawn from other jurisdictions. The Committee is also considering whether local councils are setting realistic noise abatement and environmental impact targets in their consideration of development applications from cafes, restaurants and live music venues. Before I commence I acknowledge the Gadigal people, who are the traditional custodians of this land. I also pay my respect to the elders past and present of the Eora nation and extend that respect to other Aboriginals who may be present or listening online. Today we will hear from Create NSW; Liquor and Gaming NSW and Office of Racing; City of Sydney; Local Government NSW; APRA AMCOS; MusicNSW; the Lansdowne Fifteen; the Committee for Sydney; the Live Music Office; the Australian Recording Industry Association; the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance; Sydney Fringe Festival; and Century Venues to name a few. Following the lunch break the hearing will recommence in the McKell Room. Could members of the public who are interested in attending that session please speak to the secretariat staff to organise access to the McKell Room. Today's hearing is open to the public and is being broadcast live via the Parliament's website. A transcript of today's hearing will be placed on the Committee's website when it becomes available. In accordance with the broadcasting guidelines, members of the media may film or record Committee members and witnesses. People in the public gallery should not be the primary focus of any filming or photography. I remind media representatives that they must take responsibility for what they publish about the Committee's proceedings. It is important to remember that parliamentary privilege does not apply to what witnesses may say outside of their evidence at the hearing. I urge witnesses to be careful about any comments they may make to the media or to others after they complete their evidence as such comments would not be protected by parliamentary privilege if another person decided to take an action for defamation. The guidelines for the broadcasting of proceedings are available from the secretariat. There may be some questions that witnesses could only answer if they had more time or with certain documents to hand. In those circumstances, witnesses are advised that they can take questions on notice and provide answers within 21 days. Witnesses are advised that any messages should be delivered to the Committee members through the Committee staff. To aid the audibility of this hearing I remind Committee members and witnesses to speak into the microphones. In addition, several seats have been reserved near the loud speakers for persons in the public gallery who may have hearing difficulties. Finally, I ask everyone to turn their mobile phones to silent for the duration of the hearing. PC6 CORRECTED Monday, 26 March 2018 Legislative Council Page 2 TAREK BARAKAT, Director of Strategic Policy, Research and Projects, Create NSW, affirmed and examined GRAINNE BRUNSDON, Acting Executive Director, Create NSW, affirmed and examined PAUL NEWSON, Deputy Secretary, Liquor and Gaming NSW and Office of Racing, affirmed and examined The CHAIR: Would you like to make an opening statement? Mr BARAKAT: No. Mr NEWSON: No, Chair. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: I am keen to ask some questions about the State Government's support for music and also the progress on the night-time economy task force. Firstly, I recognise the good work that Create NSW has done across the board. Some fantastic work is going on. There have been some concerns raised about this particular area, but we have to put that in context with the very good work that Create NSW is doing across the board. How much money is allocated to support contemporary music in New South Wales? Mr BARAKAT: We provided a number of different strategies to support arts and culture generally of which contemporary music is one. This year alone the Government is committing over $639 million to support arts and culture in New South Wales. That includes $52.7 million— The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: That was one of the issues I had with the Government's submission. I am asking about contemporary music. Much of the Government's submission was about support for culture generally. I acknowledge there is some good work going on there. For contemporary music in New South Wales how much support is Create NSW providing? Mr BARAKAT: I will have take that one on notice. I do have some information here about the programs we run, but if you are after specific figures around contemporary music I would be happy to take that on notice and provide you with some detail. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: That would be helpful. I might give you a hand now and just see if you can give us any more detail, but feel free to come back to us on notice. One of the things support is provided for is MusicNSW. Can you give us an idea of how much that funding is? Mr BARAKAT: MusicNSW, as you probably know, delivers small grants to support contemporary music. That includes to young people to support live music events. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: How much are we funding them? Mr BARAKAT: In 2017-18 there was $455,000 in funding for a range of different activities. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: Is that over two years? Mr BARAKAT: My understanding is that is for 2017-18 but I will confirm that. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: It is one year? Mr BARAKAT: Yes. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: What about the Live and Local program, which is a new program? Mr BARAKAT: Live and Local supports local councils in Western Sydney and regional New South Wales to stage small, family friendly festivals. In 2015-16 Create NSW committed $150,000 to Live and Local in Western Sydney. In 2016-17, following that success, an additional $100,000 was committed to Live and Local events in Western Sydney and $150,000 was committed to festivals across regional New South Wales. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: There is another program called Heaps Decent that I do not know the details of. Mr BARAKAT: I would have to take that on notice. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: It is a very small figure. That gives us a bit of an idea about the support for contemporary music in New South Wales. The Government submission did not have any details about what is going on in other States, even though that was one of the terms of reference. Do you know how much support there is in other States for contemporary music? Mr BARAKAT: I do not have the exact figure. I know different States support contemporary music differently. I do not have the exact figures but, again, I can take that on notice and provide some information to the Committee. PC6 CORRECTED Monday, 26 March 2018 Legislative Council Page 3 The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: I can tell you, because it is pretty well known across the music industry, that over four years Victoria is supporting its contemporary music industry by $22.2 million. That is a figure that dwarfs what you have just described in New South Wales. It is probably five times what you have described at least, but feel free to clarify that on notice. Is that not part of the problem? Mr BARAKAT: I think that is probably a question that the Government is best placed to answer. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: Thanks for that comment, but if you could help provide us with some of the facts I think that would be of great assistance to the Committee. I want to move to the night-time economy task force recommendations. The Government's response has a lot of reviewing, a lot of investigating, and some reviewing and investigating. I want to get down to what has actually happened. This was reported in December 2016. The actions were due either three months later, six months later or 12 months later. We are now 16 months later. What has happened with these recommendations? How many of them have been implemented? Mr BARAKAT: I think good progress is being made to continue to deliver on the recommendations. We understand, and I am sure the Committee understands, that this is a complex process with a range of— The CHAIR: With all due respect, Mr Barakat, the question was how many of the recommendations have been implemented. Mr BARAKAT: We are working with Planning to remove regulatory barriers in New South Wales. We are relaxing liquor law restrictions, and perhaps Mr Newson can speak more closely to that. We are working with the Small Business Commissioner to reduce red tape for an outdoor dining policy. The Hon. JOHN GRAHAM: Let me be specific. The task force identified that if we are going to fix this problem we really need to deal with the planning culture, the transport for venues and the approach that is taken by the police on enforcement.