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The Greens

Read about Greens MLC Sue Pennicuik and the speech she made in Parliament when she debated the FairGo4LiveMusic petition, here: Sue Pennicuik.

Keep Melbourne Live campaign
The Greens have an campaign page about the issues here: Keep Melbourne Live

From the page:
The Greens support live music. The Greens’ four simple steps can save Victoria's live music and provide more stability than the current accord put forward by the Brumby Government.

1. Target violence, not talent: Make the trigger/s for special licence conditions a history of violence, levels of alcohol consumption, late night operations or patron numbers, NOT the presence of live or amplified music.
2. Strike the right balance: Liquor licensing policies and laws should support the aims of a state Live Music Policy, which should make it clear that changes to licence conditions must be assessed for their impact on the viability of live music venues as well as reducing alcohol related violence.
3. Give live music the attention it deserves: As a major feature of Melbourne’s culture, protecting and promoting live music should be a key job for the Arts and Tourism ministers. They should create a forum where all parts of the live music community can be a sounding board for proposed changes to licence conditions.
4. Oppose the 2am lockout: The state government has a bill before the Parliament to introduce a 2am lockout. The Greens oppose this. The 2008 lockout trial showed that it simply does not work, leaving people wandering the streets and making everyone less safe.

Dodgy reporting
In January The Liberal Party put forward a motion in Parliament to “save live music” by making some changes to liquor licensing. The Greens abstained from voting, and unfortunately, sloppy media reports have labelled them as not supporting live music. Here is a reply from The Greens:

It has been reported that the Greens had voted against a Liberal motion in Parliament to save live music. This is not correct. The Greens abstained from voting on the motion as often happens when a motion has several parts, some of which can be supported and some cannot be - as was the case with this one. The motion had no legislative status. We made it clear in the debate that the link between live music and the requirement for security under the licensing rules should be removed. See Debate notes

Also see:
Liquor licensing: live music venues - statement made by Greens MLC Greg Barber to upper house on day of rally, 23/2
No link between live music and violence - Greens statement 28/1
Live music - collection of Greens speeches about live music