Singing and dancing banned at NSW festivals, but at church? No worries

Music fans can stand and sing together before a live band at Hillsong Church, but not at other NSW indoor music venues.

A thousands-strong crowd enjoys the dance music festival Epik, held at Sydney Showgrounds on December 11, 2021. Picture: Facebook

With Omicron cases exploding across NSW in recent weeks, the state government pulled a lever it has previously reached for during the pandemic: imposing restrictions on the live music industry by public health order.

New rules announced by NSW Health last Friday stated that singing and dancing was not permitted indoors at “a hospitality venue, entertainment facility, nightclub, or major recreation facility”.

Exceptions apply to wedding services or a gathering immediately following a wedding; a performer who is performing or rehearsing, or a person who is instructing, or being instructed, in singing or dancing.

Late on Monday, NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant signed an amendment to the Public Health Act which came into effect on Tuesday, January 11.

In an explanatory note attached to the amendment, the object of the order was “to prohibit singing and dancing by persons attending music festivals”.

The amendment was published on the NSW Health website, dated January 10, with Chant signing the document at 5.19pm on Monday.

In a new clause under music festivals, the Public Health Order states that “an occupier of premises at which a music festival is being held must ensure that […] no person sings or dances on the premises other than a person performing at the festival, or a person rehearsing to perform at the festival”.

Exactly how this would be enforced, or practicable, by festival operators is unclear.

It is difficult to imagine an indoor event at which up to 20,000 music fans all stand perfectly still and quiet throughout a performance.

In effect, this new move by NSW Health will effectively ban music performances at all levels, from pub gigs to major indoor festivals across NSW.

It will have devastating consequences for businesses and individuals operating in this sector.

After hanging on during the long wait of getting national vaccination rates high enough to reopen venues and again hold events, many live music workers thought 2022 would offer the chance to safely resume after two years of pain and interruptions.

For those workers based in the nation’s most populous state, however, it appears that was a false dawn.

Decisions made behind closed doors by state health bureaucrats, without industry consultation, will result in multimillion-dollar losses for promoters and venue owners who had events booked to capacity in January.

Rescheduling these summer shows for later in the year will be difficult, too, as the national concert calendar is already solidly booked with events in capital cities and regional centres.

Yet there’s another form of venue where it appears to be perfectly fine for music fans to stand, sing and sway together before a live band: Hillsong Church.

On Sunday morning, NSW state pastor Nathanael Wood led a service at the church’s Hills Convention Centre in Norwest, 35km northwest of central Sydney.

The 50-minute live-streamed service – which has received more than 10,000 views on YouTube – concluded with an extended performance by Hillsong Worship, the church’s ARIA chart-topping and Grammy Award-winning devotional rock ‘n’ roll band.

With five singers and four instrumentalists, the group ran through an extended version of its song That’s The Power before a masked congregation on its feet with arms raised.

To all intents and purposes, it looked much like a rock concert you might find at a venue anywhere across NSW – except singing and dancing at those concerts is banned by public health order until January 27.

Asked by The Australian about this apparent double standard, NSW Health did not address the question.

“Face masks are required for all indoor premises, subject to exemptions,” said a spokesperson on Monday afternoon. “NSW Health encourages people to avoid large gatherings at the current time. Anyone attending a gathering should consider taking a rapid antigen test beforehand and should maintain physical distance from others as much as possible.”

Asked again why churches and places of worship were excluded from the current restrictions on singing and dancing across the state, NSW Health responded on Tuesday afternoon.

“Singing and dancing in hospitality venues and nightclubs is deemed high risk due to increased movement and mingling within and across these venues, the influence of alcohol consumption, and the removal of masks in these settings to consume food and drink,” said a NSW Health spokesperson. “People attending religious services generally remain in fixed positions and masks are mandatory for these indoor gatherings.”

A spokesperson for Hillsong responded to a request from The Australian, but did not provide an interview or statement by time of publication.

For workers in the NSW live music sector – which continues to struggle after two years of pain – the newly-announced restrictions are a case of history repeating.

“It seems that our industry is an easy target, and has been consistently targeted whenever there seems to be a major issue in Covid cases,” said Stephen Wade, chief executive of Sydney-based booking agency Select Music and chairman of the Australian Live Music Business Council.

“The confusion for the people who make their living within our industry is: what is the difference between singing and dancing at the cricket, or at Hillsong, or at a wedding, which are all allowed as of today?”

The crowd enjoying the second day of the Fourth Ashes Test at the SCG last week. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Our industry cops this again, without consultation. We’re consistently punished, as soon as everything goes really bad.”

Elsewhere, indoor dancefloors across Victoria must close from 11.59pm on Wednesday under orders from the state health department, while hospitality and entertainment venues can still operate under density limits of one person per two square metres.

“Victoria is open and the community is encouraged to support businesses in a Covid-safe way,” state health minister Martin Foley said in a statement on Monday. “Closing indoor dancefloors is a simple but important step – we know they pose an extraordinary risk of mass transmission.”

In Queensland last week, however, the state’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard ruled out reintroducing density limits for entertainment venues.

“I acknowledge this is controversial and others won’t agree with it, but we are not going to stop this virus with a minor change like ­imposing a density limit of one person per 2sq m,” said Dr Gerrard on Friday.

“I think the evidence suggests that it is not going to have a major impact on the virus but it would have a major impact on the greater society, so I have not given that ­advice.”