On 30 June, NSW Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello tabled in both Houses of Parliament the report on the outcomes of the Music Festival Roundtable’s review of the operation of the Music Festivals Act 2019. The report can be found here

Some of the key findings  tabled in the report include:

• Duplication was identified between incident register reporting requirements established under different Acts and Regulations. This causes confusion and complexity for music festival organisers. The review recommends that L&GNSW continue to liaise with the NSW Police Force, industry and other relevant stakeholders to explore opportunities for streamlining reporting arrangements for different incident register requirements.
•  With regard to definitions in the Act, the review recommends that L&GNSW work with industry to reach agreement, if possible, on potential amendments to the definition of ‘music festival’ to more closely accord with the industry-accepted definition.
• Stakeholders reported that the criteria used to determine high-risk festivals, and the process for initiating consideration of potentially high-risk festivals, are too subjective and provide insufficient clarity and certainty for the industry. To provide greater certainty and transparency for festival organisers, the review recommends that clear and objective criteria be prescribed for a festival to be determined high-risk. Any new festival that meets these criteria should be required to notify ILGA for a determination to be made. The review also recommends that the term ‘high-risk’ in the Act be replaced with the term ‘notifiable’.

Importantly, the review also recommends that the term ‘high-risk’ in the Act be replaced with the term ‘notifiable’

Looking to next steps:

• Roundtable Operation: Given the short period of time for which the roundtable has been operational, and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is reasonable to suggest that the fulfilment of the roundtable’s functions be further examined following the next summer music festival season
• Regulation overlap: A detailed consideration of this issue was not possible within the confines of the current review, and will require consideration by the Government in the broader context of other initiatives aimed at reducing ‘red tape’ and streamlining regulatory processes.

For more information the full report can be found here