Peter Garrett might be out of parliament (and turning down Midnight Oil reunion offers) but following on from the likes of Rose Tattoo’s Angry Anderson and country music star James Blundell throwing their hat into the political arena, another group of Australian musicians are hoping to make their voice heard in the political realm.
Wally De Backer, better known by his stage name Gotye, along with his bandmates in The Basics, are forming a political party and are hoping to run in the upcoming state election in Victoria.
Yes, this is real life.
The Grammy Award winning solo artist, along with Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath are forming the Basics Rock’n’Roll Party (BRRP) to run in the Upper House on November 29 as a push back to what the band are calling “life-long politicians”.
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“Politics in this country is treated like it belongs to the elite,” Schroeder told AAP via The Age. “We have these career politicians who often come from well-to-do families … and they are groomed in to becoming these life-long politicians that have no other life experience outside of either being in the young Liberals or young Labor, and becoming a Member of Parliament,” he said.
Instead, the trio aim to prove anyone can take their place in the political arena, and even inject a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll into it.
“Decisions don’t have to be made by these elite, you can just be musicians,” he said. “We’ve all got higher education degrees so we’re not just musicians, but we haven’t come up through any political ideology we just care about certain things like indigenous affairs and education.”
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According to an email sent out to fans, the BRRP have three main policy objectives, aiming for positive change in areas of innovation, education, and of course rock n roll.(obviously).
“Specifically, we have thus far outlined our Objectives for improved Indigenous Affairs (which seems to have been forgotten now that Tony Abbott is ridiculously the Minister for Indigenous Affairs), areas of Education in Schools, support for expanding access to Music in Rural & Regional areas, and others,” said the message to fans.
“Decisions don’t have to be made by these elite, you can just be musicians.”On Rock N Roll, the group want to see the preservation and expansion of music facilities. “Melbourne is a city known for its wonderfully diverse and vibrant music scene,” their official policy document outlines.
“The status of traditional live music venues in Melbourne has been a source of significant interest over the past 15+ years, where we first saw the destructive introduction of “pokie” machines, and more recently an emphasis on the active gentrification of many inner-city suburbs, both of these moves taking precedence in the minds of decision-makers over the preservation of local culture.”
“We recognise the excellent job of Music Victoria and the SLAM movement (amongst others), who continue to seek suitable compromise with developers and government departments that benefits all, and we fully support their continuing work. We, however, express a further need for protection of and subsidies (for soundproofing) to rehearsal spaces and studios, which are similarly integral to a thriving music scene. “
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“In addition, we vigorously encourage the expansion of live music to suburban and regional areas of Victoria, whose populations have suffered a huge decline in access to the variety of live music that metropolitan audiences enjoy in the past two decades. We advocate for a small grants programme to allow a larger number of touring acts to subsidise the growing costs of production, promotion and petrol which significantly impact on the success of these endeavours by smaller groups wishing to build their audience, which will in turn see a return in cultural and local capital.”
“As a band who has itself worked hard over the past 13 years to “bridge the gap” of access between metropolitan and rural/regional areas of the country, we will strive to support a growing music and arts scene which will truly make Victoria “the place to be”.”
More policy outlines in the areas of health, agriculture, the environment and more can be found on The Basics Facebook page.
In order to run for the November election, the party will need at least 500 registered members with the Victorian Electoral Commission. Prospective Members are encouraged to Private Message the band with their Name and Address, so the VEC can confirm your membership and allow the registration in time for the 2014 Victorian-State Election
If they are successful, Schroeder says the band could take the idea as far as federal politics. “A lot of the issues we’re discussing are really federal issues, I can see that being an arena for the future,” he said. “It’s not like the band would be the first rockers to run for politics at a federal level.”
“If you’re interested in joining us to shape positive change here in Victoria, and later down-the-track in the rest of the country, please act now to ensure our successful registration. We’ll thank you for it!!”
