In October I championed music festivals in our region in Parliament in opposition to the Government's Music Festivals Bill.I was concerned that music festivals would simply pack up and move out of the State, affecting our cultural opportunities and our local economy.

Today I join with my Labor colleague John Graham MLC,Shadow Minister for Music and Night Time Economy, inhis call on the Government to appoint a Minister for the Night Time Economy after new data on music ticketing shows that the Liberal Governments war on music has allowed Victoria to overtake NSW as the music capital of Australia.



Live Performance Australia (LPA) has released new data which shows that Victoria has overtaken NSW as Australias live music market leader, recording the highest contemporary music ticket revenue and attendance numbers in 2018.



Music promoters are reporting that show counts and attendances in Sydney are now being significantly outstripped by Melbourne.



Between 2015 and 2018, NSW recorded the lowest growth in combined revenue for contemporary music and music festivals out of three states with NSW only growing 88 per cent compared to 176 per cent for Victoria and 110 per cent for Queensland.



Yesterday John said,

Musicians and music fans in NSW are missing out. The Governments war on music has taken its toll. It has taken the lockout laws, over-regulation of venues and attacks on music festivals by this Government to produce this result.



The Government must urgently appoint a Minister for the Night Time Economy to tackle the music crisis in NSW.