John Graham, NSW Minister for the Night-time Economy is interviewed by Mia Armitage
BayFM hosted the Minister for Music during the Regional and Remote Music Summit held in Byron Bay. John Graham is also the Minister for Transport, the Arts, and the Night-time Economy.
Speaking on our Community Newsroom program, he was asked about the proposed Special Entertainment Precinct trial for the town, which many locals oppose.
The trial would be funded through the Byron Shire Council which has received $162,000 for such a project but isn’t contingent on this particular one.
Minister Graham told Mia that the SEP wasn’t “something in any way’ the government wanted ‘to impose on communities. ‘This is a way of collaborating with communities but if the community is not driving it, then it just won’t work, that’s the starting principle here.’ he said adding, ‘..if it did proceed, we’d go to a trial stage. If we get to the end of that and it doesn’t work, we don’t want to make it permanent at that stage.’
Minister Graham said, ‘existing regulations and approval time-frames for endeavours such as outdoor dining, live music, later operating hours, liquor licences and micro-festivals made the process “too hard” and this is one of the ways we’re trying to make it easier.’
So is red tape protecting Byron or restricting it from evolving into more than just a destination for boozing? Stay tuned.