A draft busking policy is up for debate at this week’s Byron Council meeting, with staff recommending in the agenda that the policy should require street performers to prove they have a $20M public liability insurance policy.
Dylan Johnstone, Development Investigations Lead, also recommends that councillors support the ‘Requirement for buskers to submit a passport-sized identification photograph when making application for a permit, and to display the photograph while busking, so that authorised officers are able to identify that the person busking is the holder of a permit’.
His long list of recommendations to the policy also includes regulating busking to specified hours and at designated sites, and ‘clear conditions that busking must not be repetitive in nature and must not result in offensive noise’.
A ‘requirement for a busking group to be limited to a maximum of four performers’ is also recommended by Johnstone.
The policy will be tabled by councillors before a vote. If adopted, it will go before the public for exhibition.
Dylan Johnstone, Development Investigations Lead, should be sacked. Imagine a school kid busking with a clarinet out front of IGA in Mullum needing to have $20 Million in Public Liability. Crazy stuff.
It sounds very much like one (or several) of the out of town boring old grey-nomad-baby-boomers, who’ve recently purchased property in Byrons ‘Golden Grid’ has had a quiet word in Councils ear. “Stop this racket or we’ll sue…”. This kind of ridiculous over regulated nonsense will turn Byron into Coffs Harbour or Port Macquarie before we know it. Yawnsville….
It is racket..it’s just noise pollution..and pollution isn’t tolerated right?
Is the world going crazy?
Do buskers play whipper snippers or lawnmowers or V8 or jet engines or the like, these days?
Since when have street musos incurred damages of up to $20 million ?
Now they’re worse..why can’t people enjoy dining in silence..
Oh FFS! Here we go again, last time it was the drumming circle on Main Beach. Give us a break!
Dylan Johnstone, Development Investigations Lead, step away from your ego for one moment and see the bigger picture of what makes Byron Bay a destination for visitors and locals alike. It is the freedom of expression and music. This very thing that you want to quash and make unattainable for the majority. Bring the sunset drumming back and support the buskers in whatever way you can. They are the energy of Byron. If you want a quiet life, go to Ballina……
How totally soul-less Byron is becoming. Why ask Council? Chat to the community…bring back the fire eating belly dancers, the free spirits who enjoy life and have a song, an instrument, a cheerful expression, a poem or shared insight. Or perhaps we need farewell transport for the miserable to move to their natural habitat…misery land.
The council and it’s acolyte complain about pollution endlessly but go to town on a Friday sat Sunday night and it’s endless horrible noise pollution..but thats ok..be nice to experience quiet street and some dining in peace instead of awful bloody noise..
After travelling to many countries abroad, coming back to Australia feels like a cultural dead zone in most towns and cities. One of the attractions Byron shire has is the vibrant street scene. Let’s not loose it.
Art in the streets made Byron attractive and the attention it got helped make Byron attractive to the money. Unfortunately ‘the money’ thinks art makes the streets untidy.
This is a concerted effort to remove the art.
Lived in Byron 15 years ago and having held a busker’s license I’m saddened to see another bit of Byron’s soul being attacked.
It was a delight to see the buskers, most were not well off and appreciated the small income. Visitors enjoyed the colorful and often unusual music.
Unbelievable! For the five or so years that I busked the Streets of Mullum I saw nothing more than ‘Miles of Smiles’ from the passes-by I played for. Besides providing a Vibe for any town that host buskers, playing the streets is a time-honored rite of passage for many professional musicians who are trying to get their chops and their courage together before heading out into their futures.
I’m so sorry to see Mullum bending to this drab conservative direction. I always believed this town was different. Perhaps I was wrong?
In the decades since Public Liability Insurance was imposed on community events, market stall holders etc, I have never heard of a Claim – ie its just put $Ms into Insurance companies profits. How could a busker cause $M20 in injuries/damage? And as Council has imposed a Licence for Buskers, not for the exclusive use of a park etc, but to perform on a part of Councils property, why doesnt Councils Public Liabillity Insurance cover them? And why is the same $M20 insurance imposed on both major commercial music events and a single busker? Personally Id like main beach to be for acoustic performance and non amplified acts during the day, with amplified music after dark, to keep the day time ambience there. And if Council can close part of Jonson st for monthly markets, how about closing the road from the roundabout to the beach nightly (?) for a buskers/performance space?
Another pending nail in the coffin for Boring Bay. Surely Dylan Johnstone can find another way of justifying his salary. Why not implement something to enhance and encourage more street performance and art? Sorry @Bob…seems you’re out of step with the bulk of sentiment here. Maybe stay home and do takeaway.
Absolutely ridiculous !Who dreams up this kind of nonsense let alone thinks others should go along with this. This isn’t America. Surely if one stubbed their toe on a buskers amp or whatever they’d have to take some personal responsibility for not looking where they are going or whatever other accidental mishap could happen. What busker could possibly afford such unnecessary insurance?!