Izaac Lee Alford loves social media messages, and lives on his daddy’s cattle farm just out of Gympie, a lovely town where it only needs to sprinkle to be flooded. It has also for many years been One Nation central...

Haven’s story starts with a supermarket. The venue at 102 Jonson Street occupies the former Woolworths building, a site presented as a temporary home for music and community, before the building is eventually redeveloped. Instead of hiding that impermanence, the team made it the point. The space was built entirely from salvaged materials, turning a commercial site into a cultural one which is reminiscent of a futuristic Pan-Asian set from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell.

The arts are an essential industry. We need artists as much as we need accountants. We need dancers as much as we need doctors. We need comedians as much as we need civil engineers. We need filmmakers as much as we need financial planners. We need musicians as much as we need ministers.

A Northern Rivers family might be forced to leave their life behind without direct intervention by the Minister for Immigration, Tony Burke. The de Silva family have been living locally since 2020, contributing significantly to local businesses and to disaster recovery.