Badlands, a Perth-based live music venue, is the latest to announce its shutdown as insurance costs continue to rise. In an announcement posted on Instagram, it has noted they received a “10-fold increase” in its public liability insurance premiums “despite never having made a claim before.”
“Venues are being lost in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland as well, and it’s down to the rising premiums on public liability insurance,” Livia Carré, executive director at Western Australian Music (WAM), said in an interview on radio show 6PR Afternoons. “We don’t really know why the insurance premiums have increased tenfold, even when there’s been little or no claims.”
In a separate interview with PerthNow, she said they are seeking answers on why the costs, such as operational costs and public liability insurance, have spiked following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Badlands is the third live music venue to fall victim to the post-COVID environment,” Carré said. “This is not just a WA issue but is happening right across the country and has become a hot topic in our national conversations.”
The first two live music venues to close down following the rising insurance premiums were The Aardvark in Fremantle and The Sewing Room in Perth. Jeff Haley, strategic partnerships director at Night Owl Entertainment Group, said they are also experiencing difficulty in their live music venues with insurance costs rising to twice as much.
“Our venues have had to endure much public liability insurance premiums over the past 18 months,” he said. “It’s getting very hard to find insurers wanting to cover our venues.”
In a September 2022 ABC News report, Mathew Jones, general manager of public affairs at Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), said live music venues were an “unfortunate casualty”.
"Insurance prices risk and the activities we're talking about are inherently riskier than other types of leisure activities," he said. “There's alcohol involved, large numbers of people in tightly packed venues, activities taking place at night rather than the day.”
