Look, I don’t often find myself applauding government press releases (have a read here). They tend to arrive wrapped in the sort of breathless self-congratulation that makes you want to lie down in a dark room with a cold flannel over your face. But every now and then something lands that’s actually worth talking about, and the NSW Minns Government’s Music Bill 2026 is one of those things.
Let’s set the scene. New South Wales was, not so long ago, the hardest place in Australia to operate a festival or live music event. A city that once punched well above its weight globally had spent the better part of a decade…




