Hi - I'm the Hon. Kristina Kerscher KENEALLY, MP

Hi! - I'm the Hon. Kristina Kerscher KENEALLY, MP.
I'm the Member for Heffron, The new Minister for Planning, and the Minister for Redfern Waterloo.

You can get to know a bit more about me by checking out  some of the issues i've been interested in, and see what I have to say. I made my first speech in Parliament on May 20, 2003.

Why is a Planning Minister on a website dedicated to liquor reform? Well, small bars also need a planning approval if they want to have any music, theatre or comedy that's not on a plasma screen.

We sometimes forget, don't we, that to live in NSW is to live in a society where a piano requires a development application and yet large TV screens are ignored and poker machines have a special exemption from our planning laws.

A great deal of work has been done over the years to give NSW cultural industries a better deal from planning regulations. From the Vanishing Acts report (2002/3), the NSW Premiers Dept. Issues paper (2004/5), the Transfer of Functions Act amendments (2006), A new Entertainment SEPP (2007), to more changes this year in the EP&A Amendment Bill 2008 that should finally enable genuine change.

There are good people in the Department doing their best at this time, and I must say that I'm amazed at the patience and diligence of those from the creative sector who have made countless detailed submissions in what is an extremely complex area, attended many meetings, and even in one case given up their career to focus on this appalling situation, and yet years later still haven't given up hope that our planners can actually deliver reform.

I imagine they must get very tired of the endless stream of emails, journalists, and industry friends and colleagues constantly asking them why nothing tangible has ever happened as the months turn into years and yet another Christmas comes around.

Its funny how we do things in NSW. This weekend we had the grand final footy, and the mums and dads sat in the concourse at the game with the family and enjoyed an alcoholic beverage. Take the family into a licensed music venue, and you can expect the police to close it down immediately.

Pokies have a special exemption from our planning laws, but read a David Williamson play or sing Waltzing Matilda in a pub or club without D.A. approval and the licensee is in big trouble under section 139(3)(r) of the Liquor Act 2007, as well as having the local council commence proceedings, issue fines, limit trading hours etc...

As usual, our liquor laws will be giving extended trading for hotels on Sunday nights when the cricket is on, not that broadcast sport, unlike music and drama, is "entertainment" for the purposes of NSW "planning" controls.

In the weeks ahead we will be doing our very best to ensure that new processes for the regulation of music, theatre and comedy can be ready by summer.  There are lots of students finishing their music degrees and diplomas as we speak, and lots of venues that would really love the laws to be a lot fairer. My equally glamorous colleague Virginia Judge MP, who is well respected by the entertainment industry for her fantastic work for the NSW Government in this area, agrees with me when i say that we think it would be great if they can have jobs here in NSW this summer playing music, or doing drama or comedy - rather than bailing to Melbourne or buying a plane ticket.

As a mum with two growing children, i hope that they, and their friends, are able to grow up in a society where their imagination and creativity can be nurtured, where they can be enchanted and captivated by music and drama, and have every chance to participate themselves in the cultural life of their society.

As our children progress through life in their search for meaning and identity, just imagine for a minute if they could have equal access to music and drama as we do now to sport and gambling in NSW?. Who knows, in the years ahead they may have an opposite aspect to the current laws Premier and Arts Minister Bob Carr introduced, and instead require a D.A. for a poker machine and large plasma (as global warming progresses) and give the exemption pokies and TV have now to those who wish read a play or play a piano.

Thanks for your interest in this important issue for not just the people of NSW but for the community, identity, and economy of all Australians, and we hope to have new processes in place for the regulation of entertainment in NSW as soon as possible - after all, what can possibly be delaying the commencement of this most important cultural reform?

Before we go, both the music industry and I would like to acknowledge the work my predecessor Frank Sartor did in this area, and please, don't hesitate to contact my staff if you have any questions.