Hobart musicians and hospitality workers are still reeling days after seven popular venues shut when the Pub Banc Group collapsed into voluntary administration on Monday.
Labor Shadow Hospitality Minister Luke Edmunds said the closures hit workers, performers, security staff and cleaning contractors hardest.
“A major source of income [was] pulled out from them in different ways and at really short notice,” Edmunds told Pulse outside the now-closed Republic Bar in North Hobart.
He called the Republic “an icon of the entire state” and one of the few venues where bands could play at full volume without complaint.
“There’s very few heavy duty venues where you can turn the music up so loud that it rattles the bones of your ancestors,” he said.
Edmunds said the state government should deliver on promises already made to the industry rather than pointing fingers at the local council.
“I just think the people who worked at those venues and performed at them want to see action over finger-pointing,” he said.
He called for live music rebates for venues, a review of opening hours and cuts to red tape including trade waste solutions.
Mark Brudenell, a member of local tribute band Australian Made, said the band had been playing at the Republic since around 2008 and one of its guitarists had performed there since 1996.
“It is the only venue that I can think of that’s totally set up for music and it’s also compact,” Brudenell told Pulse.
He said the venue attracted a diverse crowd ranging aged from 18 through to 70+ and he had never seen a fight there.
Brudenell learned of the closure when friends texted him that his upcoming gig on the 29th was cancelled.
He suggested the Pub Banc Group had not understood what made the Republic work.
“This is a unique property that needed someone with love and care for music, food, the people.”
Brudenell said music was a vital outlet for young people and the city could not afford to lose dedicated live music spaces.
“We need culturally a place where people can go and have a beer or a wine, chill out and listen to some live music from some live acts,” he said.
Other venues around Hobart have rallied to support those affected, with the New Sydney Hotel setting up a donation jar for displaced industry workers.
Administrators Apex Advisory are working to find new buyers for the closed venues, which also include Cargo Bar, Jack Greene, Post Street Social, Observatory Bar and Franklin Wharf.
