Quake concert canned

A Christchurch earthquake charity concert planned by former Noiseworks frontman Jon Stevens will not go ahead on Bondi Beach this ANZAC Day due to financial restrictions.

Waverley Council gave the New Zealand-born Bronte resident approval last month for an alcohol-free event in Bondi Park in support of his birth country’s devastated people.

One of the concert organisers told The Bondi View that “while there was strong media and corporate support, it wasn’t strong enough to get the event off the ground.”

He said the council had been “very supportive in giving approval”.

But some community members had not been as welcoming of an event they feared could draw as many as 15,000 people to the area.

Bondi Beach Precinct Community Safety and Traffic representative, Margaret McNiven, said the council had approved the late-notice event without proper community consultation.

“It is a worthy but a late idea and should it not be fully planned for effective management, there is reasoned and well-informed trepidation,” McNiven stated in a letter to Waverley councillors.

She later told The Bondi View the Bondi quake concert was an example of how the council authorises the use of public land for large scale events without consulting the community.

But Mayor Sally Betts said the council was “extremely strict about events” and only approved the earthquake at short notice due to its charitable intent, early finishing time and non-alcohol status.

“We turn away a lot of events and always try to consult the community on everything we do,” she said.

“I feel really sorry that the concert isn’t going ahead.”

Christchurch’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake claimed at least 166 lives and caused damage estimated at $12 billion in February.

– BY EMILIA TERZON