Psyfari music festival cancels 2019 event as NSW rages ‘war on festivals’ over drugs

A music festival has decided to cancel its 2019 event, blaming the NSW Government for placing “extreme measures” on organisers over drugs.

Psyfari was due to celebrate its 10th anniversary, but has cancelled its 2019 event saying it is a victim of the NSW government’s war on festivals.

The Psyfari music festival cancelled its 2019 event, claiming to be a victim in the NSW government’s “war on festivals”.

The multi-day “doof”, scheduled for September, would have been the festival’s 10th anniversary. The camping festival had a BYO liquor policy and encouraged punters to “dance, play” and be themselves.

“We are unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when festivals are the new scapegoat of a failed government and their failed war on drugs,” organisers wrote on their Facebook page.

“Excessive rules, bans on BYO alcohol, overly heavy police presences, this is not what we had in mind.

“The current political climate surrounding festivals in NSW has made this something harder than ever before, and it really seems like a recipe for disaster.

“Either they don’t seem to understand the desire for freedom and the desire to be part of a community, or they do understand and feel threatened by this.”

Psyfari is the latest victims as NSW festivals struggle to survive.

The event organisers have claimed their festival has fallen victim to the state government’s ‘war on festivals’.

“While drug-related deaths at festivals are a very serious matter, they really do make up the tip of the iceberg. To put things into perspective, drug-related deaths at festivals on average make up less than 0.5 per cent of all drug-related deaths in Australia, but festivals are an easy target, and an insignificant sacrifice to a blind government with its head in the sand.

“To put blame onto festival organisers is an extreme measure.”

Organisers spoke of steadily rising prices pushing the festival model out of the market completely.

“Festivals with a ticket price of $500 are also not what we had in mind, but it seems likely that this is the way things are going, with one of the government’s best weapons being the ability to force excessive costs onto events in order to phase them out,” organisers wrote.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced in October that her government would introduce a tough new law to target and punish dealers who caused deaths, making them able to be jailed for 25 years.

Ms Berejiklian also said the government would introduce tougher licensing provisions for festivals.

How the event announced its cancellation on Facebook.

FESTIVALS TRYING TO SURVIVE

A festival similar to Psyfari, Rabbits Eat Lettuce, recently announced it would move its location to Queensland, where laws are less restrictive.

This was after NSW Police lodged action against the festival, appealing the Land and Environment Council’s permission to hold the festival in NSW. The festival instead decided to move states.

“The current political state of play in NSW is not conducive to the festival industry and we feel that to ensure we can provide the best event and experience possible moving to Queensland for at least the time being is the best decision for all involved,” festival organisers said. They added that the Southern Downs Local Council, Queensland Police and Queensland Ambulance and Fire Department had been supportive of the event.

Mountain Sounds festival also had to make drastic alterations to its event. Organisers slashed an unbelievable 21 acts from the original line-up.

“Due to current increased pressure around safety, licensing and security we have had to modify our site, staging and infrastructure so the event can go ahead,” organisers said in a statement.