Greens MLC Tammy Franks secured the support of the Malinauskas Government to establish the Select Committee into local and live creative venues, which will explore the impacts of recent venue closures and what cultural infrastructure is required for a healthy sector.

The Legislative Council is expected to vote in favour of the establishment of the Select Committee this afternoon, which Franks said would likely deliver a “raft of recommendations” to protect creative venues and preserve the grassroots spaces for future generations.

It follows the late-2023 closures of multiple nightclubs and live music venues in the West End of the CBD including the likes of heavy metal haunt Enigma Bar and nightclubs like Fat Controller and 1000 Island.

Since then, venues like LGBTQI bar My Lover Cindi and Port Adelaide nightclub Confession have closed due to economic pressures.

Alongside exploring the loss of live music venues, the Select Committee will inquire into the cultural, social and economic contributions made by live creative venues, how South Australian artists and creatives can be supported by venues, and whether further protections are required for local performance spaces.

Franks will sit on the Committee which will also include independent Frank Pangallo, Labor’s Reggie Martin and Ben Hood from the Liberal party.

Simple solutions around regulations imposed on venues that support live music will be explored, Franks said, as well as council regulations, liquor licensing rules and planning and development red tape.

“We’ve seen a 27 per cent loss of live music venues in this state since COVID. That’s a pretty significant loss,” Franks told InDaily.

“We’ve seen places like Confession down in Port Adelaide unable to sustain their business model in this post-COVID environment.

“There’s so many that have closed down like My Lover Cindi that we just can’t replace overnight.”

Franks said looking to examples interstate of successful ‘live music precincts’ could be one novel solution to support the industry.

“There’s things that can be done to really support creative venues much better than we currently are,” she said.

“When you look at some of the grants that were awarded to try and keep live music alive and see that several of those venues have since closed down, it’s not just going to be about money, but it will also be about money.”

Franks said a raft of recommendations “right across the board” will be delivered by the Select Committee.

Similar inquiries in the past led to significant reform of the sector, Franks said, such as the establishment of the small bar licence and the distribution of money from pokies back into the live music industry.

“We have to celebrate the history of music in this city,” she said.

“It’s all well and good to have a Paul Kelly Lane, but if we don’t have a place where the Paul Kelly of today can play or indeed come back to, then what are we really glorifying and celebrating unless we preserve it for the future?”

West End venue Jive founder and member of the Independent Live Venues Alliance Tam Boakes welcomed the interest of Parliament into the industry that’s facing an “absolute crisis”.

“It’s fantastic that someone is paying attention and bringing it to the powers that be. We’re in an absolute crisis and we’ve been screaming for someone to listen and someone to help,” Boakes told InDaily.

“Every venue is really struggling. I don’t know if there’s any that are doing well.

“It’s the on-flow of that that people don’t realise. They just think that’s a venue – ‘who cares’ – but you’re losing a stage for artists, you’re losing work for your sound people and your lighting people and your merch people.

“It just feels like, for the first time in my whole life, it really could end and once it’s gone it’s so hard to bring back.”

Boakes said the main issue for venue operators was cost of living pressures driving up costs and keeping punters at home.

“People just don’t have money, and entertainment has to be the first thing to go,” she said.

“Also higher costs on rent, insurance, electricity, alcohol: everything’s gone up.

“Another thing we’re facing – which is a fantastic health change – but people aren’t drinking. Largely how venues survive is off alcohol sales. It’s fantastic that Aussies are getting healthy but we need to find another revenue stream now in a time where everything’s really tough.”

She suggested funding for venue operational costs would help operators survive, as would levies on tickets for larger concerts which could trickle down to local venues.

“I think $1 off a ticket is nothing to actually secure the future of grassroots venues and keep the industry thriving and growing.”

UNSECO City of Music general manager Joe Hay also welcomed the Committee’s establishment.

“Any opportunity to review the sector is great,” he said.

“The last major one is about 10 years old now. Any deep review is important and 10 years is a long time and a lot’s happened and changed.

“Adelaide as a city of music delivers excellence across the board, but it’s important to put it all in the frame so you’ve got it all in context.”

Hay pointed to the half-a-billion-dollar value of Adelaide’s live music industry as a signifier of success, but noted that live music venues were “suffering”.

“South Australia continues to produce amazing artists, there are new venues opening, so I think it’s mixed. This in itself is a good reason to really dig in and have a big review,” he said.

“I think where you have an environment that enables innovation, enables risk, enables people with crazy ideas, that’s where you get the outcomes.

“We saw that with the small venue licence which was the result of doing exactly that: where an environment was created that enabled activity and innovation.”