There will be no jiving or even attending 2022’s Big Red Bash and Mundio Mundi Bash without a jab, according to ABC Western Qld’s Ellie Grounds, with anyone attending having to be fully vaccinated.
The report says that if you are planning on heading to the Big Red Bash outside Birdsville or the Mundi Mundi Bash near Broken Hill next year there is a new rule in place — no jab, no jive, with the policy believed to be a first for the Australian music industry, with many more events to follow,
Outback Music Festival Group managing director Greg Donovan saying he felt he owed a duty of care to festival-goers organisers with the rule to apply to anyone stepping foot on the event premises including ticket holders, artists, crew, volunteers, and vendors.
Donovan said, “Our patrons travel thousands of kilometres to get to and from our events … through many little outback towns and communities,” adding, “We bring 10,000 people together from every corner of Australia”, and “We have a duty of care and responsibility to make sure we do everything in our power to make sure we can provide the safest environment for patrons coming to the event.”
He said he also felt responsible for the remote communities that people passed through on their way to the events, particularly those with significant Indigenous populations.
In western New South Wales, where the Mundi Mundi Bash is scheduled for April next year, 155 cases of COVID-19 had been recorded as of yesterday, Donovan said
“We don’t want to be involved [in] … causing any of those sorts of things ourselves through bringing unvaccinated people through those areas to our events,”
While some employers like Qantas and SPC have announced no-jab, no-job policies, Donovan said he believed this vaccination rule is a first for the event industry in Australia, with Marc Christowski, the 
director of Empire Touring which works with the Bash festivals, said he anticipated other events would follow suit, adding, “We’re in the business of trying to reinstate an industry that’s been decimated,” and “We can move forward into 2022 and know that no-one will come to our festival and die.”
He said vaccination policies were the best way to get the live music industry back on its feet, adding, “It’s the only thing that is a pathway out of a disaster,”
Donovan said he was anticipating some backlash to the rule from a “very vocal minority”, adding, “There’s a lot of people who are very staunchly against vaccination,” and “We respect their rights, but they are a minority”, adding, “Someone’s got to take a stand and put a stake in the ground and do what’s right for our industry.”
Asked about whether he had investigated if the rule is lawful, Donovan said he understands the legal landscape around no-jab, no-entry policies to be unclear, adding, “If anyone wants to have a crack at us and sue us for whatever they might think, discrimination or something like that — we’d be glad for that to happen,” adding, “It might actually establish some laws in this area.”
A report from ABC Queensland brought to you by John Alwyn-Jones, Special Correspondent Travel and Tourism, Global Travel Media.
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