Groovin The Moo Canberra Will Go Ahead In 2019, Despite Losing Its Original Venue
The University of Canberra announced yesterday it will not be hosting the event in 2019.
Groovin The Moo has confirmed it will be returning to Canberra in 2019, despite yesterday’s announcement by the University of Canberra that it will no longer be hosting the event.
Fairfax Media reported yesterday that a “mutual decision had been reached” to end the contract between GTM promoters Cattleyard and the Unversity, which has been the home of the festival for nearly a decade.
“The university felt with the growth in the campus … the place was no longer fit for purpose so we approached the organisers,” vice-chancellor Deep Saini said yesterday. “This year was the last year…It may happen elsewhere but it will not be on [our] campus.”
A spokeswoman for the festival confirmed to Music Junkee this morning that the festival will definitely be returning to Canberra in 2019 — dates and venues for all festival dates will be released next week.
The shift of venue could have an impact on the festival’s ability to host pill testing trials. Just last week, a proposed drug testing trial at the upcoming Spilt Milk festival in Canberra was quashed because the venue — Commonwealth Park — was located on federally controlled land.
“The Commonwealth’s concern first and foremost is the safety, health and wellbeing of Australians, including the safety of people attending events held on national land,” a spokeswoman for the National Capital Authority (the body that manages the federal government’s interest in the development of Canberra) told Fairfax Media. “The government does not support decisions to use illicit drugs, and does not in-principle support pill testing, as it could imply that illicit drugs are safe.
As the University of Canberra land is owned by the ACT Government, not the Commonwealth, it is possible to host drug testing trials there without needing the express blessing of the Commonwealth. Earlier this year, GTM held a highly successful trial at their Canberra event — which resulted in two deadly drugs samples being detected.
Here is Australia’s first official #pilltesting service in numbers:
128 participants
85 samples tested
50% was ‘other’ (lactose, sweetener, paint)
50% was pure MDMA
2 of the samples were deadly
So, harm reduced.
We did it.— Matt Noffs (@mattnoffs) April 29, 2018
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Photo credit: Rebecca Houlden/Junkee