Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Long Jetty Festival was recently held on the New South Wales Central Coast, with thousands of festival goers from the region and across the state attending the event. Long Jetty Festival took place along the beautiful foreshore of Tuggerah Lakes and included a range of unique stalls, delicious food options, exciting music performances and entertaining experiences. Altogether there were over 250 food and flea market stalls for people to enjoy. Events like Long Jetty Festival are so important to regions like the Central Coast because they provide small businesses and microbusinesses with the opportunity to showcase their products or services. Not only this but visitors that festivals of this scale bring to regions like the Central Coast have economic flow-on effects for existing businesses like cafes, restaurants, accommodation providers and so on. As well, live music acts and musicians benefit by performing to the festival's audiences, which helps to develop their talents, sharpen their stage presence and provide an income. I was impressed to see the musicians that performed at Long Jetty Festival, including the Rubens and Meg Mac, two excellent and powerful Australian live acts that I'm sure were able to get the audience singing and dancing, creating a real festival vibe.

Festivals bring the community together, they foster pride and they provide so much more. It's pleasing to know that the Long Jetty Festival was such a giant success this year and has been a real highlight for the Central Coast so far. According to the festival organisers, the Long Jetty Festival brought upwards of 25,000 people to the coast, and this, I'm sure, was a welcome boost to business owners in the region.

The Albanese Labor government understands the importance of culture to Australian communities, and this year the federal government announced its signature national cultural policy, Revive, which will provide much-needed funding for our culture and arts scene. Importantly, this policy will mean $286 million over the next four years and the creation of Creative Australia, the government's new principal arts investment and advisory body. Investments in this industry are integral for the 400,000 Australians working in the field, which contributes $17 billion to our nation's economy. I want to thank the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, and the Special Envoy for the Arts and member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, for all their tireless work in this space.

I look forward to supporting and attending the Long Jetty Festival over the coming years, and I want to thank all the organisers and all the businesses, stakeholders, musicians and other support staff who ensured that this year's festival was unforgettable—a truly memorable experience.