One week out from Nile Rodgers bringin’ the funk to the Supernatural Amphitheatre, the fight against those scalping tickets to one of Victoria’s most beloved weekend soirees, the Meredith Music Festival, is getting political, with one local politician requesting in Parliament that the State Minister for Consumer Affairs look at safeguarding Meredith specifically from scalpers, requesting similar protections to those enjoyed by sporting events like the AFL Grand Final be put in place.
In a press release, the Member for Partying Really Hard In the Bush Western Victoria David O’Brien said:
“This is a great regional event and is consciously planned by the organisers to ensure a quality experience. For example, they deliberately cap the amount of tickets they sell to stop over-crowding, and have introduced best practice safety management.
Unfortunately as Meredith Music Festival regularly sells out, tickets then appear on Gumtree and eBay at inflated prices. This contravenes the event’s terms and conditions which outline that tickets cannot be sold or attempted to be sold at higher than face value.
New South Wales have proposed laws to combat music event scalping and I would like to see these examined in Victoria.”
While O’Brien has politely refrained from using the word “dickhead’ (thus far), Meredith‘s
famous “No dickheads” policy, which applies at the festival, has
recently expanded to include those selling tickets at inflated prices
online prior to the festival. In the recently issued “A Letter From Aunty”, Meredith organisers explained that “We know how angry Meredith-goers get when they see thieves and scalpers trying to rob and scam people for tickets through sites like eBay and Gumtree (recently one of these scammers received a three-month jail sentence).”
To attempt to curb such sales, organisers have introduced the Meredith Waitlist, a service which “provides legitimate sellers and buyers with a trustworthy and reliable service to put tickets in the hands of those who are keen to attend the festival.”
While the Minister for Consumer Affairs Heidi Victoria is yet to respond to his request, we hope to be able to shout David O’Brien a burger with the lot from the Community Tucker Tent at Meredith next weekend.
Lead image by Kristy Milliken
