Hillsong church has apologised for “giving any perception that we were not playing our part to keep New South Wales safe” after footage of congregants singing and dancing provoked widespread outrage.
The church confirmed it had been instructed by NSW Health to “cease congregant and student singing and dancing” at its annual youth summer camp in Newcastle, and had immediately done so.
However, the church continued to deny that the camp, which runs until Sunday, had any similarity to music festivals, which are explicitly banned both indoors and outdoors until 27 January under an amendment to the NSW public health order. Religious services are exempt, but footage of maskless congregants dancing to pop music at the camp has angered many at a time when festivals and concerts are being cancelled.
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“It is important to clarify that the current youth camps we are holding are not music festivals,” Hillsong said, claiming the camp was “low risk as described under current guidelines”, because it was held outdoors, with sports activities and no alcohol, and the roughly 200 students attending were all “part of the same social network”.
“These camps have a Christian focus and include worship services. Over a three-day duration, the percentage of time spent singing is minor. However, we regret giving any perception that we were not playing our part to keep NSW safe and we sincerely apologise to the community at large,” the statement said.
NSW police confirmed they were actively investigating whether Hillsong had breached the public health order. The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said the event was “clearly in breach of both the spirit and intent of the order”. The premier, Dominic Perrottet, said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the scenes and said the church should be fined if it was found to have breached the public health order.
The independent Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said it was “a music festival, no doubt”.
“No doubt it will also top off with a super-spreader [event],” Lambie told Channel Nine’s Today show on Friday morning. “Newcastle had a super-spreader [event in December] go around from a nightclub. What is the difference? Because they don’t have a drink in their hand? Are you kidding me?”
Perrottet said the state government would tighten regulations if Hillsong escaped a fine due to a “loophole”.
“But I don’t want to do that because that means that it will capture a whole lot of other organisations that are doing the right thing … I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the health minister is, then a fine should be issued,” he said.
Musicians have been particularly outspoken about the footage, with several big names forming a protest supergroup called Thrillsong. After the Hillsong footage was widely shared, artists including the Jungle Giants, What So Not, Art vs Science, CC:DISCO!, Illy, Lime Cordiale, Montaigne and Peking Duk came together to protest against the ban on live music while religious services and sporting events are allowed to continue.
“We firmly support measures to protect our fans and communities and to safeguard our healthcare workers. We simply ask that if rules are made, they apply to everyone equally,” they said in a joint statement. “We need to be in this together.”
Electronic artist Chris Emerson, who performs as What So Not, said he was actively seeking out religious and sporting venues for Thrillsong to perform in, to highlight the double standards.
“We are very seriously looking with legal teams into whether we have a cause for discrimination against the NSW government,” he said. “We’ve also got a lot of time on our hands, and a lot of spirit, so we’ll willingly get together and perform some sort of religious ceremony as Thrillsong if that is the only way we can play.
“I’d love everyone to be singing and dancing, it is just so frustrating when people not in the music industry are given permission to run these events when people in the industry are complying with really expensive regulations and doing everything right. Music festivals have been targeted, while a church gets to put on a music festival.”
Sam Hales, guitarist of the Jungle Giants, said they just wanted one rule for all live events.
“No one wants to cancel cricket or the Australian Open or religious events. We just want to be at the table; we want to be considered alongside sport and the church,” he said. “It’s really hard to see tens of thousands of people at a sporting event, all yelling, no social distancing. A band can play to them, but three doors down at a venue, the same band would have their gig cancelled. That’s the new discourse – music doesn’t happen any more, sports and religion does.
“We need to start spotlighting all these double standards. It doesn’t make any sense and it is getting silly.”
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