Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I became arts minister rather suddenly last year. It was a position that I had hoped to gain for a long time and then, all of a sudden, amidst a number of other movements that happened at the time, the position was vacant and I discovered that I was arts minister for Australia, only about a week before Bluesfest was to take place. I had been hearing about Bluesfest for a long time, from the member for Richmond and from my friends George Negus and Kirsty Cockburn who had been encouraging me to attend. Immediately, though, there was the issue that the arts minister prior to me, Simon Crean, had accepted an invitation and I was asked to take it up. So, having said for a long time that I was too busy and could not make it, I found myself at my first Bluesfest last year.

This is an extraordinary event—an absolutely extraordinary event. I think the story of its success is a story about the organisers and a story about the bands, but it is also a story about the crowd. It is a very special crowd at Bluesfest. There are not many music festivals where you will find people in such large numbers and—what has been for years—such an impeccably well-behaved crowd; this is not a crowd where you end up with problems, or bad media stories. It is an absolutely fantastic long weekend, and full credit has to go to the organisers for that. Peter Noble is an extraordinary Australian. What Peter has brought together in Bluesfest is through his own contacts, dating all the way back to his days as a bass player, as a band manager, and owning his own record label. And now, to be able to reach out—it would appear that there is no musical door that Peter Noble would be unable to open. Over the years, we have seen the most extraordinary mixture—from the greatest artists the world has known, to whoever might be extraordinarily popular on the day, to some of the new, up-and-coming artists who are just finding their way through. I did not expect that there would be a day in my life when I would find myself attending a concert of KC and The Sunshine Band! Notwithstanding that, that moment happened for me this year—and KC was still up there, dancing away. There was a sense of fun throughout this whole festival. That really needs to be valued. Since that time, I have had the privilege to be able to declare my continued support and my continued attendance at Bluesfest, and also at the Boomerang Festival; I will say a bit more about the Boomerang Festival in a moment.

Peter Noble is backed up by an extraordinary team; by his partner, Annika Oman, Brendan Meek, Russell Mills and Remy Tancred—and it is always a privilege to be met by people like that. I won't go through more names, because the more names you list, the deeper you go—you end up with an extraordinary list of people who come there to work because they believe in what happens there. And they believe passionately in the value of music itself. A lot is said, and quite rightly, about concerns for the future and about making sure we have enough Australian music. Increasingly, people are getting their music from offshore sources; people are listening to radio through means that do not of themselves have Australian content quotas. Part of making sure Australian music stays strong is to make sure that Australian music festivals remain strong. There will always be international headline artists—that is part of getting the crowd there. But this also helps provide the critical mass and critical audience for Australian bands—to make sure that cutting-edge Australian music continues to be part of the Australian story.

The move to the Boomerang Festival is very important. The work that Rhoda Roberts has done as the curator of this festival provides an Indigenous music festival that is easy for large numbers of Australians to get to. Whether people were watching Australian artists like Gurrumul, or international acts like the Wantok Sing Sing, we saw a beautiful feast of music at Boomerang. I certainly hope it receives the public support to be able to continue for a very long time. There is a good environmental story at the site; and great work that they have done with koalas, in looking after them in a precious environmental site; but most importantly this is about making sure that music is part of Australian culture. Bluesfest plays a critical role in that.

Debate adjourned.

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