Australia's new peak body for music festivals -- whose board is made up of festival organisers from Splendour, Laneway, Falls, Groovin' The Moo and Listen Out, among others -- have slammed NSW's music festival licensing laws, called for off-site pill testing and other harm minimisation measures, and want greater transparency around the costs of emergency services at events.

It follows what some advocates have labelled a "war on festivals" and nightlife in NSW, after central coast festival Mountain Sounds cancelled its event a week before going ahead, and Psyfari festival announced it wouldn't be running in 2019.

Both festivals slammed the NSW Government for crippling the state's festival scene.

The Australian Festival Association (AFA), established in late 2018, called on the state Government to make five changes to the running of festivals in NSW.

AFA call on NSW Govt to Roll out new music festival license as a trial

Ensure the fees of the new music festival license are the same as the Special Event license, which festivals previously operated under

Roll out an online portal for harm minimisation services for event staff and patrons

Establish a drug checking (AKA pill testing) facility in NSW that is not on-site at festivals

Ensure emergency services costs are negotiated with festival organisers ahead of time

The AFA said NSW's new festival licensing laws, which come into effect on March 1, were "too rushed" and had not been established with enough consideration to the state's festival industry.

The AFA also accused the NSW Government's expert panel investigating music festival safety in 2018 - called for by Premier Gladys Berejiklian following the deaths of two young people at Defqon 1 - of failing to adequately consult festival organisers while preparing their report.

Adelle Robinson, the managing director for Fuzzy - which runs Habourlife, Field Day and Listen Out - told Hack that only two festival organisers were invited to give feedback to the expert panel last year.

Those two organisers were Matthew Lazarus Hall from CMC Rocks and Fuzzy's Adelle Robinson; Adelle told Hack they were each given five minutes to provide recommendations and feedback to the panel.

"I think there should have been further consultation from a wider, wider spectrum of the festival community," Adelle said.

One of our main complaints with this whole process is that it has been very rushed and there hasn't been enough consultation.

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Whatsapp Pill testing supporters gather at a rally outside Sydney Town Hall on January 19 2019.

AFA calls for pill testing off-site

Adelle Robinson told Hack the AFA was calling for off-site pill testing to be established in NSW, unlike the drug checking trial which took place at Groovin' The Moo last year.

Adelle says on-site pill testing at festivals would only address "part of the problem" of drug deaths in NSW.

"As a festival operator myself I think that, with the amount of media attention and the amount of concern around this type of thing coming into place, testing in a more controlled environment is the first thing," Adelle said.

"Drug use is not only a problem at festivals, it's a society-wide problem. So rolling it out only at festivals is only looking at the one part of the problem. We think that having it as a facility that's available at all times, not just in the lead up to music festivals, is a better approach to address the the wider issue of drug use in our society."

The AFA said NSW's music festival licensing laws have sparked an "atmosphere of fear and uncertainty for many event organisers."

Tyson Koh from Keep Sydney Open, a new political party running for office in next month's NSW election, thinks it's more than just 'fear and uncertainty'; he has labelled it a "war" on festival culture.

"100 per cent there is a war on young people and festivals. The majority of deaths, over 99 per cent of them that are related to drugs, happen in the wider community," Tyson Koh told Hack.

The State government is going after young people because they're low-hanging fruit and [Gladys Berejiklian] thinks they can't defend themselves.

Yesterday NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said festival organisers like Mountain Sounds who have cancelled their events only had themselves to blame.

"If event organisers don't want to obey the law, that's a decision for them. You can't just make a quick dollar without thinking about the safety of young people.

"We want these festivals to grow in number, I want more people to enjoy them, but to enjoy them safely.

"If you can't spend money making your event safer, well that's a decision for you, but it's not fair to blame the government."

Listen back to Hack's story on NSW festival closures here.