Events sector insurance scheme extended

The Government has announced an extension of its events sector insurance scheme, with events eligible for coverage also being expanded.

Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash also announced the Government’s Events Transition Support Payment scheme would be extended to January 31, 2023, after it was initially meant to end this April.

Under the scheme, the Government would pay out 90 per cent of “unrecoverable costs” for events cancelled because of pandemic restrictions, like moving to the Red traffic light setting. It was first introduced in November to give large-scale event organisers more confidence to plan amid Covid-19.

From April 4, eligibility would be extended to business events with at least 200 in-person attendees. Touring events with a combined total of more than 5000 attendees would also be eligible from then.

Also from that date, the Government would introduce new criteria that would allow events to cancel or postpone if the lead artist had to self-isolate.

Nash said the ongoing Omicron outbreak and the country’s Red setting was “having a severe impact on the events sector”.

“We have adapted the scheme to take account of this to further support the industry for the rest of the year,” he said.

“These changes will provide confidence to hundreds of events throughout 2022 and into next summer so organisers can continue to organise events despite the ongoing uncertainty that Covid-19 brings to our communities.”

The extension comes after the Government announced more support for the arts and events sector earlier this month.

In the announcement, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni boosted funding for the Arts and Culture Event Support scheme by $70 million, which allowed the scheme to be extended until January 2023 to more people.

However, while artists said they were thankful for the help, others said it didn’t come close to what artists could be earning and that the Government could do more.