Little River Band legend Graeham Goble calls for funding to save local theatre

An Aussie music icon has slammed the government’s lack of support for local theatre claiming the country is “becoming a dumping ground“ for US productions.

Graeham Goble of Little River Band.

A homegrown music icon believes Australia has become a “dumping ground” for American theatrical productions.

Little River Band founding member Graeham Goble — who was recognised in this year’s Australia Day honours — told the Sunday Herald Sunthere was not enough federal government support for local theatre productions.

It meant they couldn’t compete with big budget overseas shows like Hamilton.

Signage at Hamilton, the hit American Musical on Broadway in New York City.

“We (Australian artists) can make a lot of money for Australia, if there was serious money put into the arts. The people are here, the artistic community is here … but we are just becoming a dumping ground for American productions,” Goble said.

The Order of Australia recipient — honoured for service to the performing arts as a singer-songwriter, producer and contribution to the Australian music scene — said he had mixed feelings about the gong because of the perilous state of the Australian arts.

“I’m very concerned about the arts in Australia, especially during this time of coronavirus,” Goble, who penned the hit songs Reminiscing, Lady, Take It Easy on Me, The Other Guy and The Night Owls, said.

Little River Band: Beeb Birtles, David Briggs, Graeham Goble, Glenn Shorrock, George McArdle and Derek Pellicci.

“I’m disappointed the arts are not much more supported by government, but I’m totally honoured that my body of work has been recognised … particularly the work of Little River Band … we were the first to crack America and we opened the gates for a lot of people,” he said.

Little River Band is widely considered the first Australian band to break into the tough US market and went on to achieve 13 American Top 40 hits with six of them Top 10 and five consecutive Top 50 American albums, three of which went platinum.

Reminiscing was hailed by John Lennon as one of his favourite songs, while Frank Sinatra once declared it “the best 1970s song in the world”.

Little River Band is widely considered the first Australian band to break into the tough American music market.

With private investment for Australian film and theatre productions increasingly hard to come by, it was up to the federal and state governments to support the arts, Goble said.

“In everything from theatres to investment in musical productions, there’s just not enough government money going into the development of the incredible artistic abilities that are in this country,” he said.

“Australian productions need government support to try and compete with international shows that are already up and running on Broadway … the result is that the Australian public sees mainly American productions because they’re all funded and developed over there. Our own Australian stories require a lot of help to compete,” Goble said.

“The government needs to understand that if you have an Australian show, It can bring millions and millions of dollars into the economy through hotels and tourists … it needs to realise the value of art to society but also the return it can bring to the cities those shows are playing in.”

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