Australia’s music industry is strongly considering the introduction of vaccine passports as a requirement for entering venues.
As the Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across Australia, our music industry is becoming inclined to introduce vaccination passports, which will act as a prerequisite for entering live music venues.
Vaccine passports have already been rolled out across North America and Europe to varying levels of success, mostly positive.
Image: The National
John Wardle, Policy Director at the Live Music Office, believes that there are “strong arguments in favour of requiring vaccination as condition of entry for both venues and patrons as safer spaces.”
However, the logistics around venue management may be a little tricky as it would require some “integration across federal, state and industry health and service platforms.”
However, the NSW state government has said that it is leaning towards introducing passports that would carry the holder’s vaccine history as prerequisite into a number of workplaces.
Vaccine passports – given the go ahead by Govt – do not control the virus, they control you.
— Sonia Poulton (@SoniaPoulton) August 31, 2021
Wardle more or less confirmed this; “we are seeing some support for these requirements expressed around the grounds domestically at the political level and we are staying attuned to the position for other industries which face similar challenges such as the hospitality and tourism sectors.”
The vaccine has been strongly supported across the global music industry as more and more artists are feeling the effects of the pandemic on their careers, especially their ability to perform.
Aussie icon Tame Impala, took to social media yesterday morning to share that his shows will now only allow entry to those who have been vaccinated or tested negative for coronavirus in the last 48 hours.
Vaccine passports for venues will be as inviting as a fart in a spacesuit.
— Neil Oliver (@thecoastguy) August 31, 2021
“I have talked about this with my cohorts extensively and whilst the last thing I want to do is divide people based on what they believe and don’t believe, now is not the time to be putting everyone at risk for the sake of being nice.”
To a greater extent, the new and more contagious – not to mention more dangerous – Delta variant has caused anxiety across the music industry, where the continuation of music festivals has been of particular concern.
Cornwall’s Boardmasters festival earlier this month, for example, was attended by more than 50,000 people and is now linked to about 5,000 cases. There are also fears that this number will continue to rise.
It appears that the urgency around vaccination has grown significantly and the music industry is reaching a strict turning point.
What do you think? Should we give the vaccine passports the green light, or are better solutions just around the corner?
