Brad Hazzard, LIB MLA

Owners of premises will not have to go through a complex and difficult approval process to provide a venue in their premises for live music, entertainers, jazz musicians and so on. The Liberal Party and The Nationals look forward to that

Last night in the upper House, the Hon. Matthew Mason-Cox spoke on the places of public entertainment [POPE] provisions in the bill, which is one of its few redeeming features. I am sure both sides of politics trust that the reversal of what Labor introduced 10 years ago will improve the opportunities for live entertainment at the many venues across New South Wales that could host live entertainment but have been restricted from doing so for a decade as a result of the last lousy planning changes of this Government. It has been unfortunate—that is too mild a word—and extremely debilitating to New South Wales and its arts community that for a decade live entertainment has been secondary to poker machines and bureaucracy. That the bill will implement this small change is one of its few redeeming features. We trust that in the next few years we will see a major increase in the number of venues hosting live entertainment. Owners of premises will not have to go through a complex and difficult approval process to provide a venue in their premises for live music, entertainers, jazz musicians and so on. The Liberal Party and The Nationals look forward to that, but we will watch the remainder of the provisions very closely. We will not oppose these three amendments.