Despite the overwhelmingly positive moves to bolster Wollongong’s live music scene, a number of venue operators have told a public inquiry of their ongoing troubles with noise regulations and liquor rules.
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In town on Wednesday to hear from those within the local music industry, a panel of upper house parliamentarians heard how the city had led the way in making changes to planning rules to help live music thrive over the past six years.
However, they also heard of the outstanding issues faced by those trying to set up new venues.
Ann Martin, who is a joint operator of Port Kembla’s Servo Food Truck Bar, spoke of her troubles gaining a liquor licence.
Set up by a group of artists, the Wentworth Street venue is designed to provide a family and community friendly place for Port Kembla locals to eat and drink while listening to live music
“As a new venue, we have only had our licence now for about a week, and we applied for it in November,” she said. “Can I say that the local licensing police were remarkable in their negatively towards our venue.
“They basically said we will do whatever we can to make sure you do not want a liquor licence, and that you should have four security guards on all the time, and that there should be no rock music only jazz trios.
“The condition of our current licence is that we’re not allowed to have a DJ desk, we’re not allowed to have a dancefloor and we are not allowed to operate past 10pm without a security guard.”
Ms Martin said there was a difference between the attitudes of Wollongong’s two police commands, with Lake Illawarra – which looks after the Port Kembla area – not part of the city’s previous Live Music Taskforce.
Also at the inquiry, Yours and Owls’ Adam Smith said noise complaints continued to be a problem for the two-day Stuart Park event.
“It’s becoming an issue for us, we’re an outdoor event and have been given the noise restrictions that we think, and a lot of sound experts believe, are too low,” he said.
“We work with the council and try to mitigate that as much as we can, because they are doing the best they can to make sure local residents aren’t annoyed.
“But there’s also 18,000 people coming down over the weekend who want to enjoy the festival, so it’s about how we balance out the fact that there’s a huge amount of tourists coming to the area who want to experience a festival they can here.”
Noise complaints were also raised as an issue by Bombie Bar licensee Robert Deacon, who detailed how the popular Coalcliff surf club fundraiser had been forced to shut down due to a complaint from one resident.
Once it has finished its public hearings, which are scheduled to travel to othe regional areas, the parliamentary inquiry will publish recommendations on how to better support venues, red tape reduction and funding for the music and arts sector across the state..
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
