John Brumby
Agreement reached
An agreement was signed by the Brumby government and music representatives on October 6, 2010, that if honoured by the new Coalition government, will see the end of live music being linked to violence in liquor licence conditions. It appears Brumby’s team eventually came to understand they were doing the wrong thing by music, and that they wanted to rectify it, but it was too late for them to act on the agreement, because they lost power soon after. The burdens these people imposed on musicians, venue owners and music representatives trying to sort out the mess were HUGE.
As of April 2011, the music sector is still waiting for the Coalition to take action to fix the problems caused by their predecessors. Read the agreement on the SLAM website: The Agreement (pdf)
Brumby’s letter
You may be interested to see a letter John Brumby, now ex-Premier of Victoria, sent out Jan 14 or 15, on Brumby letter. The letter contains lies and distortions, and it was sent out by an MP to a constituent on February 24, after the rally and the signing of the accord, which says something about the honesty and integrity of the Brumby Government, as far as I am concerned.
Accord
John Brumby has made a big deal of the Live Music Accord his government signed with music representatives, 22/2/2010, and said quite a lot about how important live music is and that he supports it.
However, as far as the issues at hand go, the Live Music Accord is only a few recommendations, along with some glaring omissions—it doesn’t actually do anything about the problems, and little has changed (as of 19/4/2010, only 2 venues have had a roll-back of conditions).
He pulled a swiftie, and should be condemned… he used his expertise at manipulating the media to take the sting out of the rally and reduce public awareness of the issues.
Not much has changed
Many venues have stopped their music, particularly early in the week, and for most of them there is no change since the accord, nor for the musicians and audiences affected.