Peking Duk has issued a statement on social media criticising the Australian government’s “snail-paced” vaccine rollout.
The statement expressed the duo’s dismay over the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Australian music community.
Not too long ago, we posted an article here about the long term effects that the delayed rollout will have on our beloved industry.
This involved local artists being left unable to capitalise on their hard-earned success by touring internationally – something that the rest of the music industry worldwide has carefully crept back into.
Peking Duk – formed by Canberra natives Adam Hyde and Ruben Styles – were scheduled to play a gig at Winter in the Domain in Sydney this weekend.
However, the gig since been postponed, sparking outrage.
The band immediately took to social media today to express their frustration, addressing the wider problem of the government’s lack of proper care for the local scene during the ongoing pandemic.
“It feels strange to be writing this 16 months into a worldwide pandemic,” they began.
“It feels strange to be writing this while the rest of the world seemingly returns to normal, holds events, travels freely, and yet Australia, who was leading the way with their response to Covid:19, is in yet another lockdown.”
Anyone know how to get a #vaccine in Australia?
Asking for a music industry.#auspol #ausmusic #ScottyDoesNothing #VaccineShortage #VaccinesWork
— Royal Chant (@RoyalChantMP) May 6, 2021
We feel you, Peking Duk. We’re certainly seeing many international artists returning to our shores, making us scratch our heads with confusion.
For example, New Zealand pop star, Lorde, has been heavily promoting her upcoming Solar Flower tour, which will involve extensive Australian dates, while many of us local artists are sitting at home, re-booting our live steam DJ careers.
What gives?
Peking Duk also highlighted a startling comparison to America, which currently has the highest rate of Covid cases and related deaths worldwide to date.
“America can have events, because 45% of their population is vaccinated. Australia with around 7% fully vaccinated cannot.”
It gets even more disappointing when we compare industries even within our country.
A rugby league game took place at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium over this past weekend at 100 per cent capacity.
Meanwhile, the live music event that was to take place during that game was weirdly cancelled.
The logic is baffling.
It’s not as much about the masks and shutdowns as it’s about getting more people to buy in on the vaccines. Cause if they knew about future shutdowns and masks these hollyweird and music industry wouldn’t be promoting future shows & concerts
— C S (@CSPerrone27) June 28, 2021
“The music industry wants answers,” Peking Duk said.
“The entertainment industry needs answers or, unfortunately, more and more very talented musicians, very talented lighting designers, very talented sound engineers… will get tired of the uncertainty, they will move on to more secure jobs and the music industry might not ever be the same again.”
