Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to report on some recent arts funding announcements for Brisbane. Firstly, the Turnbull government will assist Opera Queensland by providing an adjustment package totalling $2.3 million over three years. It follows the recommendations of the National Opera Review and it is contingent on matched support from the Queensland government. Secondly, the Turnbull government is providing Queensland Ballet with an additional $240,000 per annum from 1 July. This boost essentially maintains the Commonwealth government's funding share for the company at 20 per cent.

I want to make a couple of observations, if I can, about arts funding in Queensland. I have made a very conscious effort in my first 10 months as the member for Brisbane to visit many of our local artists, companies, venues and other arts sector participants. I have visited the big and the small, the collaborative and the independent—from traditional arts through to emerging fields like circus and cutting-edge digital offerings. I have more to go and I must say it is an enjoyable task. I want to record my appreciation of the rich tapestry of our arts sector in Brisbane. There is much more to our local arts scene, of course, than the four major performing arts companies. These funding announcements that I am talking about here today for opera and ballet will certainly not be the start or the end of my work representing our arts sector.

On that note, I want to foreshadow a couple of concerns I have about Queensland's share of national arts funding. Putting to one side how arts funding levels nationally are set or justified, I am troubled by the significant evidence I am finding that Queensland has historically been receiving less arts funding per capita than pretty much any other state or territory. That inequity does not appear to be a new phenomenon. It appears to be an entrenched trend—possibly the result of institutional inertia that I suspect becomes self-reinforcing over time if it has the effect of sending Queensland's artistic talent and its arts management capabilities to other places.

Queensland receiving a lower per capita share of national arts funding is doubly curious when you consider how, out of all of the states, Queensland's population has the largest proportion of people outside the capital city. You would, therefore, expect that the costs of delivering arts to the entire community would be, on average, higher for such a regional population.

I will say that both Opera Queensland and the Queensland Ballet do actually have a very, very good, enviable regional offering for Queensland. They certainly do much more in the regions than their interstate peers. This, of course, is a Queensland-wide topic, not just a Brisbane-centric issue. I am very happy to report that, together with our other Queensland LNP colleagues, we will be seeking to ensure that Queensland gets its fair share. These funding announcements for opera and ballet are a start, but there is much more work to do.