The government could be footing a $200 million bill if Covid kills the summer festival season.
The government has announced a safety net for the sector, underwriting 90 percent of unrecoverable costs if events have to be canned or postponed due to Covid and alert level restrictions.
But terms and conditions apply. To qualify for "taxpayer insurance", events need to be ticketed, have an audience of at least 5000, use vaccination certificates and be scheduled between December 17 and April 3.
Minister for Economic and Regional Development and Tourism Stuart Nash told Checkpoint the event sector needed certainty.
