00:01It's usually the event of the Outback, where people travel thousands of kilometres across
00:07the country and spend thousands of dollars to get to the Big Red Bash, a three-day music
00:12festival hosted at the bottom of the Big Red Sand Dune on the edge of the Munga Theory
00:16Simpson Desert, about 20 minutes from Birdsville.
00:19This year was decked out to be a star-studded line-up with Missy Higgins, Hoodoo Gurus,
00:25the Birds of Tokyo and Jessica Mowboy.
00:27But sadly today, organisers have announced that the festival will not go ahead this year.
00:32This comes after announcement a couple of weeks ago that the event would have to be relocated
00:37as the usual site is flooding and wouldn't be dry by July.
00:41But festival founder Greg Donovan says a survey of ticket holders showed that most people
00:46didn't want to attend the festival if it wasn't at its usual iconic site.
00:50There's also been lots of discussion among ticket holders about how the cost of petrol
00:55and concerns around supply were going to impact people's travel plans, with many people saying
01:00they simply can't afford to make the trip, with diesel being more than $3 a litre in most
01:06Outback towns.
01:07This has prompted grave concerns across the tourism industry in the Outback, with tourism operators
01:12bracing for a potentially slow and tough tourism season if the fuel situation continues.
01:18But operators and festival founder Greg Donovan are encouraging anyone to still make a trip
01:24to the Outback with it being open and ready for business.
01:27Greg Donovan says the Big Red Bash will be back next year with much of the same line-up that
01:31was promised this year.
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