Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My electorate of Brisbane is the arts and cultural epicentre of Queensland. It is home to institutions, artists and creative businesses alike. The Fortitude Valley precinct is an entertainment hub unlike anywhere else in Australia. The Tivoli, the Zoo, the Triffid and Fortitude Music Hall are an important nest for local talent and a platform for showcasing national and international acts. We're lucky to be able to experience the incredible artistry of the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, BlakDance and the Institute of Modern Art.

In New Farm the Brisbane Powerhouse is famous for hosting the Brisbane Comedy Festival and is celebrated for showcasing cutting-edge theatre, music and visual arts. We are lucky to host Australia's longest continuously running theatre company, La Boite, and the internationally renowned Circa Contemporary Circus. These institutions and many more are home to artists that form the beating heart of our city.

The people of Brisbane know the social, cultural and economic values that the arts contribute to our communities, with the creative industries employing many of those who call Brisbane home. Australian artists have faced a decade of government neglect and historic funding cuts, compounded by the devastation of COVID-19, when we saw many artists and crews lose their entire income virtually overnight. The damage this caused to artists' livelihoods, creative processes and artistic delivery was immense, especially in the context of the housing and cost-of-living crises. Unlike other industries, many artists received no government support during the pandemic and were unable to access the JobKeeper program. The road to recovery is long, and yet artists continue for the betterment of our communities to find a way to create, interpret and challenge culture and the status quo.

I'm glad to see some recognition of the crucial role the arts play in our economy and to the health and wellbeing of our society—to the tune of $286 million in funding. However, this pales in comparison to the $11 billion a year we spend to subsidise the profits of the fossil fuel industry, especially when you consider the massive $15 billion the arts and entertainment industry contributes to the Australian economy every year and the almost 200,000 Australians it employs.

The Greens went to the federal election with a multitude of policies to support and properly fund the arts. We would establish a $1 billion live performance fund to inject money into Australia's music festival scene and live performance sector, as well as a $1 billion Australian stories fund to develop and grow the local screen industry. We would support artists by providing additional COVID recovery funding through the RISE Fund, creating an artists wage pilot program, and place an artist in residence in every school and library.

Content quotas are one of the first pieces of legislation that will come out of the Australia Council Amendment (Creative Australia) Bill 2023. The Greens will continue to call on the government to ensure that these quotas are fixed at a rate of no less than 20 per cent. We'll also continue to push to legislate a minimum performance fee, to provide stability for live performers who are still struggling through the cost-of-living crisis as the live music industry continues to recover from the challenges of the pandemic. Artists in Brisbane have also directly raised with me the importance of supporting creatives at a grassroots level. Traditionally, we've seen skewed delivery of government funding models for this industry, where independent creators have lacked the same access to funding as larger organisations. It's critical that there are pathways for funding that are directly accessible for independent artists and not just major institutions. I look forward to creatives being able to speak from experience on these issues during the Senate inquiry into this bill.

We must also deliver a sustainable funding plan for the National Library's online archive, Trove, which will run out on 30 July unless the government decides to act. At a time when big tech companies have let fake news and misinformation run rife on their platforms, it's more critical than ever that Australians have access to quality resources and information. The government must commit to funding this national cultural institution, as well as the National Archives, the National Gallery and the National Film and Sound Archive. We are lucky to have such incredible collections of artistic and cultural history and we must ensure that governments prioritise their ongoing preservation.

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