As New York Celebrates Pride, Australia Debates Freedom - The New York Times

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written by Isabella Kwai, a reporter with the Australia bureau.

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In New York, celebrations are underway today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, when clashes in Greenwich Village helped ignite the modern gay rights movement.

But Australia was having a different kind of conversation around gay rights this week: Can freedom of religion and equality rights truly coexist?

Christian advocates have backed Israel Folau, the rugby player whose multimillion-dollar contract with Rugby Australia was terminated over his anti-gay social media posts. Mr. Folau, a devout Christian, wrote on Instagram that gays would go to “hell.” He has raised more than $2 million to finance legal action against his former employer.

If Mr. Folau begins a legal case, it would most likely be over whether employers imposing values on employees is an undue burden on the freedom of religious expression, said Gillian Triggs, a lawyer and former president of the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Two years ago, Australia was in the throes of a fierce debate about whether gay people should have the right to marry. Same-sex marriage was eventually legalized in December 2017, with a majority of Australians voting “yes” in a public opinion survey. But religious dissenters put up a fight, arguing that it would impinge on freedom of religious expression.

Australia is “manifestly and demonstrably behind” in human rights compared to the United States and Europe, Professor Triggs said. But the country doesn’t have an official human rights charter, and many of its protections, if not officially legislated, are implied, she added.

While some laws make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, there are no federal protections against public vilification on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Half of the population identifies as Christian, according to the latest census, but secularism is on the rise. In the survey on same-sex marriage, nearly 40 percent of Australians who voted — 79.5 percent of the population — were against it. One poll found that Australia is less inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people than countries like France and Canada, although it scored higher than the global average.

Mr. Folau wasn’t the only Christian figure who claimed this week that their ideas were being censored in Australia.

Sister Joan Chittister, a well-known American nun and feminist, said she learned she had been uninvited to a Catholic conference in Australia when she was told that the Archbishop of Melbourne had not endorsed her invitation. She said she believed that the leaders of the church do not like her ideas, especially her call to empower women and laypeople, and so they wanted to suppress them.

“If you are demanding rights for yourself which you won’t extend to others, that’s not freedom. It’s privilege,” the commentator David Marr wrote for The Guardian, on the topic of Mr. Folau and the church’s mixed messages of free speech.

So what do you think? Write to me at nytaustralia@nytimes.com or join our NYT Australia Facebook group.

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Australia and New Zealand

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Students and other demonstrators at a climate rally in Sydney, Australia, in March.CreditMick Tsikas/EPA, via Shutterstock

Stories from our region:

• A Timeline of Despair in Australia’s Offshore Detention Centers: On Thursday, President Trump tweeted support of Australia’s immigration policies. A timeline detailing dozens of suicide attempts and acts of self-harm since the May 18 election show a brutal reality in detention.

• Australian Student Is Missing in North Korea, His Family Says: Alex Sigley, 29, has not been heard from in days, his family said. Mr. Sigley has been studying in North Korea.

• She’s 83 and a Famous Nun. Australia’s Catholic Leaders Want Her to Stay Away: Sister Joan Chittister, a well-known American nun and feminist, was planning to speak at a Catholic conference in Melbourne, but the archbishop apparently intervened.

• Sydney to Declare a Climate Emergency in Face of National Inaction: The mayor said it was important that Australia’s largest city, which has made ambitious pledges to reduce greenhouse emissions, raise its voice in a global demand for action.

• Steve Dunleavy, Brash Face of Murdoch Journalism, Dies at 81: A hell-raising Australian who transfused his adrenaline into tabloid newspapers and television as a party crasher to American journalism, died on Monday at his home in Island Park, N.Y.

• HPV Vaccines Are Reducing Infections, Warts — and Probably Cancer: An analysis covering 66 million young people has found plummeting rates of precancerous lesions and genital warts after vaccination against the human papillomavirus.

• The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix Australia in July: ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Orange Is the New Black’ and more.

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Around the Times

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The pediatric ward at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur, India, this week. It is the epicenter for treatment of what many call “the lychee disease.”CreditSaumya Khandelwal for The New York Times

• The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years: The New York Times’ book critics select the most outstanding memoirs published since 1969.

• Slack Wants to Replace Email. Is That What We Want? As the office chat start-up prepared to go public, some of us are still figuring out how available we want to be — and whether it’s O.K. to ping the C.E.O.

• A Mystery Disease Is Killing Children, and Questions Linger About Lychees: Researchers said the fruit was behind the annual outbreaks of a fatal syndrome in Eastern India. But local doctors say that theory can’t explain all the cases.

• Photo of Drowned Migrants Captures Pathos of Those Who Risk It All: The image of a father and daughter on the banks of the Rio Grande recalled other disturbing photos that have galvanized public attention to the horrors of war.

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… And Over to You

Last week, I wrote about my father’s emotional reaction to the Hong Kong protests. Thanks to those of you who wrote in with your own stories about activism. (And for complimenting him — he was tickled to hear that too.) Today’s response, from a reader from Hong Kong.

“I am 65, Australian, born in Hong Kong, and live in Hong Kong at present.

The protests were so touching, because so many young people showed us that they might not have a lot of experience in politics or current affairs, but they have natural sensitivity toward what is good and bad, have the courage to speak up and reach out, thinking about the greater good before their own comfort and safety.

The protests were, 99.9% of the time, so amazingly peaceful and orderly. Something that any liberal country would envy, be proud of. Did you see news clips of how the young protesters picked up rubbish and debris and swept clean the streets before they went home? It really makes you cry seeing the nice sides of our youngsters, who have unfortunately earned some bad repute from the 2014 Occupy Central movement.

Net net, I view the two protests as the best days of one country-two systems since 1997.”

— J.P.

We’re collating a list of the best Australian podcasts— and we want your input. What are you listening to that you can’t forget, and why? Write to us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/world/australia/israel-folau-freedom.html

2019-06-28 03:15:55Z
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Trump says 'much can be learned' from Australia's immigration policy. Migrants subjected to it have set themselves on fire - CNN

Amid heightened media scrutiny over the tragic fate of a father and daughter who died on the US-Mexico border, Trump tweeted pictures of four fliers distributed by the Australian government warning migrants away from attempting to come to the country, adding that "much can be learned!"

That policy, with slogans such as "NO WAY, you will not make Australia home," was the brainchild of current Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who Trump is meeting with Thursday ahead of this week's G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

As immigration and border protection minister, Morrison in 2013 oversaw the "Sovereign Borders" policy aimed at preventing people smuggling and asylum seekers deaths at sea. While that policy was successful in lowering the number of people arriving in Australia, it achieved this in part by massively expanding the number of people held in offshore detention camps on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

While that policy has become more or less bipartisan consensus in Australia, Morrison has become synonymous with tough immigration policies, often appearing on TV endorsing the campaign slogan "Stop the boats."

Following Morrison's surprise win in May's general election, at least nine people attempted to take their own lives in a camp on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, where around 500 people are still held in detention.

The opposition Labor Party had said it would resettle at least 150 refugees in New Zealand, which has repeatedly offered to take them but been turned down by the Australian government, which claims doing so would encourage more migrants to attempt the risky sea crossing in the Pacific.

The incidents on Manus were only the beginning of a wave of attempted suicides and cases of self-harm on the island. This month at least eight other men followed suit, including a Sudanese man who set himself on fire and an Iranian who attempted to hang himself but was cut down by guards, according to witnesses.

In 2016, a 23-year-old Iranian man died after setting himself on fire in a detention camp on Nauru. Following his death, another refugee, 21-year-old Somali woman Hodan Yasin, self immolated and was evacuated to Australia for emergency medical treatment which saved her life.

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned the conditions in the camp system, with Amnesty International saying Manus detention centers are unsafe and "hellish." Earlier this month, United Nations representatives said they were "deeply concerned" by the conditions in the camps.

"The situation of their indefinite and prolonged confinement, exacerbated by the lack of appropriate medical care amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment according to international standards," the UN rights experts said in the statement.

Even if found to be refugees, asylum seekers are not permitted to settle in Australia and must either go home, hope for relocation to a third country, or remain in Papua New Guinea or the remote island of Nauru. Some have been sent to the US under deal struck by Morrison and Trump's predecessors, Malcolm Turnbull and Barack Obama.

That deal -- under which around 530 refugees have been settled in the US -- was strongly criticized by Trump and caused an awkward first phone call between him and the previous Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

"I am the world's greatest person that does not want to let people into the country," Trump said in the call, complaining that Australia was foisting migrants on the US.

While that particular element of Australia's immigration policy may have frustrated the US leader, he will find much in common with Morrison when they meet on Thursday for dinner.

The meeting with a fellow anti-immigration hardliner will likely come as a relief as Trump faces increasing criticism at home for his tough border policies.

For the hundreds of people in detention camps on the US border, however, the idea that Trump is learning from Australia's policy will inspire anything but relief.

CNN's Hilary Whiteman, Ben Westcott and Bard Wilkinson contributed reporting.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/politics/trump-australia-immigration-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-06-27 09:43:00Z
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Australia Probes Reports of Citizen Detained in North Korea - TIME

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2019-06-27 06:45:51Z
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Australia celebrates 'greatest day' in women's sport - BBC News

It has been described by many as the greatest day in Australian women's sporting history.

Australians woke up on Monday to a cascade of achievements from the nation's female athletes in tennis, golf, surfing and rowing.

First, surfer Sally Fitzgibbons cut a monster wave at the Rio Pro to cruise to the world number one ranking in surfing.

A few hours later, French Open tennis champion Ashleigh Barty won her third tournament of the year - meaning she will become Australia's first world number one in 16 years.

Celebratory news bulletins in the morning were interrupted by more milestones.

Golfer Hannah Green, ranked just 114 in the world, grabbed a shock victory at the Women's PGA Championship in Minnesota. It made her the third Australian woman ever to win a golf major.

Meanwhile, at the Rowing World Cup, Australia's women's eight crew won gold.

"It's hard to even put a morning like this morning into words," says Australian Broadcasting Corp sports journalist Catherine Murphy. "It has just been an incredible 12 hours."

Australian Associated Press golf reporter Evin Priest tweeted that this "HAS to be the greatest day in Aus women's sport". Elsewhere online, local reactions were as joyous.

The timing may be a coincidence, however as many Australian sports commentators have noted, such spoils have been coming.

Women's sports have long been under-prioritised and under-resourced at the elite level compared to their male counterparts.

But in recent times, a mix of high-profile events and once-in-a-generation stars have boosted the profile of Australian women's sport.

Most recently, Barty has led the charge. The 23-year-old indigenous tennis star from Queensland has won fans with her dominant play and unassuming demeanour.

She will be only the second Australian woman to reach world number one after Evonne Goolagong Cawley, another indigenous woman, in 1976.

"She's just one of the most amazing stories you'll come across in sport," says Murphy.

Three years ago, Barty was ranked 623 in the world. She took an 18-month tennis sabbatical to play cricket before returning to tennis in 2016.

"To come back and do what she's done in the past 12 months is incredible," Murphy says. "She has thrust Australian tennis into the limelight in a big way, but she is seen as the kind of humble champion that everyone can aspire to."

Footballer Sam Kerr has been Australia's other leading light, she says. The 25-year-old goal scorer and Matildas team captain has risen to be one of the world's best players.

The Matildas bowed out of the Women's World Cup on Sunday - losing to Norway in the quarter finals - but local coverage of the team is the highest it has ever been, experts say. It has come even as a world cup traditionally watched by more Australians - in men's cricket - takes place.

"It's not just football fans who have been talking about the Matildas these last few weeks," she says. "They have absolutely transcended into the present, into the consciousness of every Australian."

Much of that is a result of Kerr's appeal.

"When you have superstars like her as the face of not just the national team, but the whole tournament, the prominence of that sport and other female athletes just soars," she says.

Quiet accomplishments

Experts also credit recent reforms and new leagues in Australia with lifting the profile of women's sport.

Deakin University sports academic Dr Kim Toffoletti has pointed to the launch of professional Australian Rules football league AFLW in 2017, and a recent landmark TV broadcast deal for the Super Netball competition, as key developments.

• AFLW: The women's league captivating Australia

In 2018, semi-professional women's rugby league games were also played for the first time. Australia's female cricketers and footballers have also made high-profile bids for pay rises.

"It would seem there has never been a better time to be a woman in Australian sport," Dr Toffoletti wrote in a report in January.

Many have noted that women's success stands in contrast to controversies that have engulfed male Australian sportsmen of the current era.

Most prominently, the men's cricket team is seeking to redeem its reputation after a ball-tampering scandal. Male tennis players such as Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic have at times drawn criticism for their conduct on the court and comments off it.

Meanwhile Barty's reputation is one of a "quiet, determined young woman who solidly worked her way up with her team", says Murphy. Barty will head to Wimbledon next month as the top-ranked player.

Her influence for young girls is immeasurable, Murphy says. "This morning they wake up and we have a world number one in tennis, world number one in surfing, the underdog story of Hannah Green. They're waking up to women dominating in sport."

She adds: "I can't think of a day that compares."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48740575

2019-06-24 08:19:42Z
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Resort Styling Making Strides in Australia - Mansion Global

Demand Continues to Spread

Top-of-the-range luxury and resort-style amenities aren’t confined to Australia’s two major capital cities of Melbourne and Sydney.

Developers are also stepping up in Queensland, meeting high-end buyer expectations in Brisbane and the Gold Coast as well.

The Sovereign Residences is a A$31 million eight-unit project by Vested Group launched in April at 15-19 Royal Albert Crescent on the Gold Coast’s Sovereign Island. It’s the first apartment project in the exclusive Sovereign Island residential estate and has been designed to meet the high standards of the houses around it, Vested Group director Ian Chester said.

Due for completion by June 2020, the apartments have been designed to make occupants feel like they’re on a permanent holiday.

Interiors feature a long-list of luxury brands; Gaggenau, SubZero, Pitt, Villeroy & Boch, Miele and Blum and range in size from 329- to- 739 square meters.

Master jeweller Mark Cotterell has been engaged to add diamonds, aquamarines and carved crystals that will complement the marble, granite and limestone finishes.

CBUS smart wiring, private plunge pools, boat moorings and a full-time concierge will be available to take deliveries, drive residents to the airport, book spa treatments or make restaurant bookings.

Mr. Chester said the tightly held location, at the northern end of the Gold Coast, was filled with prestigious properties, which had required a lavish design and new benchmark in luxury apartment living.

“There is an increasing demand from discerning buyers for this type of living,” Mr. Chester said.

“Interest has already come from professionals, baby boomers, downsizers and weekenders,” he said. “These residences are as big as some of the homes on the island, so we have taken great care in designing something special that fits in with those grand proportions.”  

There will also be a residents’ swimming pool and a private rooftop terrace with 360-degree views, barbecue and entertainment area. Apartments are priced from A$3.145 million to A$5.45 million.

Place Advisory director Lachlan Walker said luxury Queensland apartment projects that have sold quickly, particularly in softer market conditions, have offered residents a significant point of difference.

Extensive community libraries, lounges and offices, with high-tech WiFi and Bluetooth integration or high-end communal kitchens and private dining rooms for entertaining are among the innovative and high-quality amenities in the market.

“Seeing product delivered well in the Sydney and Melbourne market has flowed through to the Brisbane market,” Mr. Walker said.

“Brisbane might be more affordable compared to everywhere else but people spending A$2 million on an apartment [in Brisbane] want a little bit more. They wanted a sense of community and a lifestyle that offers them an atmosphe.”

_{The Sovereign apartments on the Gold Coast, Queensland, have exclusive holiday resort amenities and house-like proportions. Renderings: Studio 5253, supplied by Vested Group}

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2019-06-23 11:08:13Z
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Thorns in France | Le Journal: 6.22.19 | Australia left learning lessons from a premature departure - timbers.com

From their earliest moments in France, Australia showed us this could happen. Back on June 9, when the Matildas debuted at this year’s World Cup, they did so with disappointment, losing a 2-1 result to Italy that, in its final margin, could have been much worse. Wins against Brazil and Jamaica provided some hope for a rebound as well as a directive from the team’s captain, Sam Kerr, but ultimately, the doubt amplified by “haters” was well-founded. Even in the middle of the second half against Jamaica, a game that ended 4-1, the Aussies seemed far too vulnerable.

They played better today, in their Round of 16 match against Norway, but just like every other game this tournament, Australia didn’t seem themselves, so much so that their final match of the competition, a 1-1 draw that saw them eliminated on penalty kicks, 4-1, felt like an apt end. It’s not that they were bad, nor were they never good, but for a team cast as one of the pre-tournament favorites, they never looked that part.

.@CaitlinFoord, @CarpenterEllie and @HayleyRaso - we are so proud of you.🌹#ThornsInFrance | #BAONPDX | #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/ZWOSecRBfS

— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) June 22, 2019

Now, the post-mortem will begin, one where it may prove difficult to distinguish between the causes from the symptoms. The ailment is not reaching the World Cup in their best state, but was that just a function of form, having lost to the United States and the Netherlands in the leadup to France? Did the health issues that kept the Matildas banged up and hamstrung over their four-game spell knock them from the competition’s top level? Were the expectations that built after winning the 2017 Tournament of Nations too much, too soon, or were those expectations right, but did a young team that had never held a favorite’s status need a competition like this to learn?

Take one view of their ouster, and all those factors look like antecedents. They led to where we are now. But it’s just as logical to see all those reasons as symptomatic another issue. Maybe pre-tournament form, health, expectations didn’t lead Australia to lose. Maybe losing was just another symptom of Australia’s real problem.

Whether you buy that hinges on how you feel about experience; or, more specifically, how the lessons of a life at the top of international soccer can offset the burden of status. All the Australian players expressed confidence going into France, echoing the expectation that they would claim their country’s first World Cup, but often in those situations, what was once fun starts to feel like an obligation. There's less joy in victory than is expected of you. When you win, it’s more relief than triumph, leaving you walking from fields without the adrenaline rush that had become your fuel.

Teams like Germany and the United States have lived in that world for so long, they develop their players into it. Along with the maturation of skills, bodies, and mentalities, there’s a comfort that develops from not knowing any other standard. Tobin Heath and Lindsey Horan have never had to consider what their national team lives were like before the U.S. had to be good. The U.S. has always been good.

From here forward, Australia will have to be, too. Just because they lost in France’s Round of 16 doesn’t mean the expectations, going forward, will change. Players like Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy and Steph Catley all have at least two more World Cups in them, health permitting, while a generation of talent like Ellie Carpenter, Karly Roestbakken, Mary Fowler and Teagan Micah will be in their primes by the next World Cup.

That doesn’t consider a player like Chloe Logarzo, who is only 24 years old. Emily van Egmond’s been around forever, but she’s only 25. Hayley Raso’s 24; Elise Kellond-Knight’s only 28. Even their goalkeeper, Lydia Williams, is only 31. Almost every regular player for Australia can be expected to improve between now and the next World Cup, wherever that’s held, and per every voice that’s come from the Football Federation Australia, they intend to hold that World Cup at home.

Today was a disappointment, and for some people, that term is synonymous with setback. But whether the end of their 2019 World Cup truly leaves Australia in a worse place is up to the Matildas. On one track, they can go down the path of the 2011’s France, whose generation of Lyon-bred talent raised expectations only to, eight years on, struggle for their true breakthrough. Or, they can learn lessons from that wave of talent, as well as the lessons of their three weeks’ struggle, and decide to move forward.

There are valuable lessons in what Australia has gone through over the last six months, from the turmoil of replacing a coach, to peaking too early in a cycle, to managing injuries and dealing with an entire country’s hopes. It’s not only reasonable for them to make mistakes their first time through, but in the long run, it might help. Whereas they were of the non-U.S., non-France contenders headed into this competition, with a steady, consistent four years’ growth, they could go into an Australia 2023 as the clear favorites to claim a world title.

They have the talent to do that. For years, now, that’s been beyond doubt. What ultimately undermined them today was their inability to manage the cycle. But with lessons learned and almost no talents phasing out, Australia might, as unlikely as it sounds., have moved closer to their ultimate goals. The reality of pain and disappointment may prove to be the last thing they needed to, sometime down the road, claim their first World Cup.

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https://www.timbers.com/post/2019/06/22/thorns-france-le-journal-62219-australia-left-learning-lessons-premature-departure

2019-06-22 23:36:16Z
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How Sounds Australia Is Paving Global Paths for Australian Artists - Billboard

In October 2013, a little-known Australian singer-songwriter with a mop of slightly unruly hair stepped up to a microphone in front of hundreds of college radio DJs and music directors. As the room’s audience wandered the room during a break between hourlong industry panels, she played just two solo renditions of her sardonic rock songs, but managed to grab the attention of many in attendance.

That CMJ College Day showcase was one of Courtney Barnett’s first international performances. Now, six years later, Barnett is all but synonymous with indie rock’s ruling class. Without the assistance of Australian music export agency Sounds Australia, Barnett might never have played College Day and the agency's signature Aussie BBQ event, both of which introduced her to enough people in college radio that her 2015 album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, would go on to top the now-defunct CMJ Top 200 college radio airplay chart for four consecutive weeks. Sometimes I Sit..., her first release for indie label Mom + Pop, peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and earned her a Grammy nomination for best new artist.

Now approaching its 10th year, Sounds Australia has hosted nearly 1,600 Australian artists at 74 events in 66 cities across 23 countries, including acts such as Flume, Nick Murphy, Vance Joy and San Cisco. These days, the agency’s Aussie BBQs and luncheons are seen less as just “cool places to be” at SXSW, The Great Escape and other key conferences, and more as “if you weren’t there, you missed the most important event of your week.”

In 2003, six years before Sounds Australia’s launch, Glenn Dickie hosted the first Aussie BBQ at SXSW, that year’s sole Australia-focused event, for which he recruited nine Australian artists to perform. Fifteen years later at SXSW 2018, as one of Sounds Australia’s four staff members, Dickie helped set up the inaugural Australia House showcase of 53 Australian artists that spanned six days, via a partnership with the country’s G’Day USA diplomacy program.

“We've gone from one or two labels having an Australian artist to one or two labels that don't have an Australian artist at all,” Dickie says. Although he and Aussie BBQ co-founder Mary Mihelakos launched the event before Sounds Australia was conceived, its success paved the way for the agency, which hired Dickie in 2013 as export music producer. “The Aussie BBQ became such a big brand within SXSW and in the U.K.,” Dickie says, “that people actually thought that we were an export office.”

Along the line, the Australia Council, which helps fund the country’s arts programs, began realizing it might actually need to establish such an export office. “As more artists were being invited to SXSW and other showcase events, the Australia Council recognized pretty quickly that, at SXSW, a number of countries were already providing support for their artists and that we could gain more benefit from helping the artists once they land,” Sounds Australia executive producer Millie Millgate says. After the Australian government conducted a year of focus groups and roundtables with music industry organizations, state governments and trade bodies, the Australian music rights organization APRA AMCOS took custodianship of a two-year music export office pilot program. In 2009, that program became Sounds Australia, with Millgate as its founding -- and, for years, sole -- employee.

Thanks to extensive experience at New South Wales’ state music office, Millgate realized that starting Sounds Australia’s operations from scratch could be disastrous, so she looked to what was already working -- namely, the Aussie BBQ. “Creating our own showcase wasn’t logical to me,” Millgate explains. The Aussie BBQ, she says, was already “on the map at SXSW. It didn't make sense not to incorporate it. Sounds Australia had more infrastructure around what Glenn and Mary had set up, and we could take a really fun party and put a sophisticated spin on it, with networking and B2B components, while keeping the essence of what they had.”

Dickie was grateful for the support. “When Millie came in, we were just some punk rock kids,” he says. “She had a budget. We had a brand.” In 2010, the agency partnered with Dickie and Mihelakos to present the Aussie BBQ. In 2013, Sounds Australia began licensing the Aussie BBQ and expanding it from SXSW to The Great Escape, the U.K. and other international showcasing events. In 2017, Sounds Australia took full ownership of the showcase.

Now, Sounds Australia oversees the country’s most vital music networking opportunities at international music conferences, though there’s a limit to its abilities. “We can help put opportunities in front of artists and managers,” says Dickie, “but it’s up to them to do the legwork and get that success.” Millgate emphasizes that the artists, not Sounds Australia, are responsible for applying to -- and accepting invitations from -- conferences, but that “having Sounds Australia on the ground at events with an organized presence” does lead to artists meeting industry figures “at a luncheon or a speed networking event and then, not long after, they're working together.”

Others have observed similarly strong outcomes for Australian artists. “I have no doubt that the massive increase in the presence and export success of Australian artists overseas correlates perfectly with the advent of Sounds Australia,” says Nick O’Byrne, who manages Barnett, among other artists. “The fact that I’ve been able to tap into functions, networking events, showcases and advice at every single stage of my artists’ growth speaks to the breadth of Sounds Australia’s capacity to facilitate outcomes for Australian music businesses of all shapes and sizes. I believe Sounds Australia is one of the most important industry initiatives we have.”

Sounds Australia creative producer Esti Zilber is quick to note that export, though an inherently international effort, starts domestically. “I don't think it can ever be understated how big a role BIGSOUND,” which is essentially Australia’s version of SXSW, “plays in export despite the fact that it happens in Australia,” Zilber says. “Your best export is primed at home.” O’Byrne, who programmed BIGSOUND from 2013-2016, agrees: “Every single time I went to a Sounds Australia networking event while I worked as a programmer, I met someone whom I invited to BIGSOUND, and that person then played an important role in the export of Australian artists.”

Of course, export by definition involves international events, and perhaps no event is more symbolic of Sounds Australia’s global presence than the Aussie BBQ. It only makes sense, then, that Sounds Australia is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with an Aussie BBQ in New York. The June 22 showcase at Central Park SummerStage will feature Australian artists San Cisco, Hermitude, The Teskey Brothers, WAAX, Tkay Maidza and indigenous artist A.B. Original.

The New York Aussie BBQ will take place two days after A2IM’s Indie Week, at which Sounds Australia connects many Australian labels with potential future international partners. This timing is intentional, reflecting Sounds Australia’s commitment to building environments best suited for forging Australian connections. “[Indie Week] is beyond valuable for a label to learn best practices, educate themselves and build and develop networks with key DSPs and supervisors, so the minute you offer a label to put one of their artists on a show, they all put their artists first, they all say yes,” Millgate says.

“It's always been an aspirational goal to do an event at Central Park SummerStage,” says Millgate. “Hitting that 10-year milestone and looking at what Australian artists are doing, if we were ever gonna give it a shot, this was the year to do it.”

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https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8517000/how-sounds-australia-paving-global-paths-australian-artists

2019-06-21 17:49:43Z
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