Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the member for Wills, I know how important the arts are to my community and of course, more broadly, to society in general. Wills, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, has a magnificent arts community. That's why it's so pleasing that the Albanese Labor government has finally been able to start designing and implementing a national cultural policy that will correct, reshape and make such a difference to the arts community. Implementing this policy will change so much of the arts community's treatment and the way that they have been neglected over the past decade.

A lot of people sometimes talk about the arts in economic terms. You hear that more people go to the National Gallery of Victoria than the MCG, and that's all well and good. There is certainly a commercial part of the arts that is important, but not all arts are commercially viable. That's just a fact. But that doesn't diminish the importance of those artists and their work, especially to society. In my view, the arts are such an integral part of who we are: our identity as a people, our society, our civilisation. The arts are really the heart and soul of any society, and so it is important to support the arts. Sometimes, if they're not commercially viable, artists and their artwork can be that heart and soul of a society as well. The Labor government has really valued and elevated the contribution of the creative industries to the social, cultural and economic life of this country. That contribution sometimes is intangible and can't be measured in economic terms, but it is so significant to who we are as a people.

Our artists, therefore, are too important to be ignored and neglected as they have been over the previous decade. It was really fantastic to have the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, visit my electorate a few weeks back and engage with local artists, the creative people who work in the creative arts, to discuss the national cultural policy. We had an event at The Moldy Fig, which is a jazz club in my electorate, in East Brunswick, run by a mother-daughter duo, Dorelle and Vivian, and they were wonderful hosts at that event. You can actually get some New Orleans, Louisiana cuisine there as well—jambalaya and so on. So we had a bit of jazz. We had a really good discussion around national cultural policy, all of the ins and outs of how the policy is going to be implemented and what it means for local artists. We had a local band called Hey Gringo, who were fantastic.

The arts are important to me and important to my community, clearly. The suburb of Brunswick in my electorate has one of the highest concentrations of artists in Australia. It is a thriving arts sector and it is the heart and soul of our community. As I said, the arts cannot be measured in traditional economic terms. These metrics are really intangible in some respects but it's pretty clear the social benefits are invaluable. The arts do matter. What we saw over the past decade of the former Liberal government was a consistent slashing of funding for the arts. As I said, we on this side have always elevated and valued the contribution of creative industries to Australian life, and to our social, economic and cultural life. Way back when, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam established the Arts Council and outlined his vision for the arts. The arts community in Wills and the arts communities right across Australia continue to deserve support from governments, in my view.

The Albanese government's national cultural policy, Revive, is part of a new era of that type of support for the arts. It sets up and supports our arts, entertainment and cultural sector for the next five years. Because of that neglect the arts community had faced for far too long, this is such a significant step for the creative arts for them to start to get certainty around their work, certainty of Australian content. I will come to quotas for Australian content and how important Australian content is later. The policy will provide greater opportunities for talented artists who are up-and-coming as well, who might not be as commercially viable, by allowing an atmosphere where arts can thrive and grow, and where organisations can grow and fulfil their vision.

It's really important we support the community and continue to reach new audiences and tell those Australian stories, something close to my heart. I worked at SBS as executive director for corporate affairs and strategy for almost four years. One of the things that came through my time in the media at SBS was the importance of telling Australian stories, particularly multicultural stories, diverse stories of who we are. Seeing yourself, seeing your diversity reflected on the screen is such a powerful, powerful experience, because it tells you that you belong.

One of the aspects of the arts that is so important to me is this sense of belonging that it actually enriches. Telling our stories is so important. There is great content from around the world. We enjoy watching some Nordic drama here or there or some American television. There is some great content, some French films. I love all of that, but it's important we also tell our stories, because that tells us who we are. Australian children's content is so important because they see their experiences reflected back to them. This is such an important part of the national cultural policy. Of course, First Nations people and First Nations artists and stories are so important. When NITV—the National Indigenous Television Network—first started, it came on board with SBS. NITV has had award-winning Indigenous content for children. That is such a powerful experience for Indigenous kids to have that positive experience of Indigenous stories their stories told on screen, as well as for all Australians to share in that cultural heritage. We are so lucky to experience those multicultural stories, those First Nations stories, here in Australia, and this is a very important part, a central part, of this national cultural policy—the importance of telling those stories and reflecting the diversity in our community.

I talked about how some of the economic metrics are not as tangible in this industry, but the fact is there are clear metrics that this is a $17 billion industry. It employs 400,000 Australians. The Labor government's national cultural policy will provide funding over four years, including to establish Creative Australia. This Creative Australia Bill 2023 provides legislation to establish Creative Australia as a modern organisation that will carry this policy forward. It includes the establishment of Music Australia and Creative Workplaces. It will ensure our arts and entertainment are strongly supported through what is now a federal entity. The bill delivers specific elements of Revive, the government's cultural policy, which I've touched on.

On this bill the government has received 1,200 submissions from the sector as well as from consultations with over 800 individuals and organisations and 14 town halls across the country on the national cultural policy. It's going to do many great things for the sector.

Music Australia will support the industry to grow, will involve strategic initiatives, industry partnerships, research and training, and skills and development. Creative Workplaces will work with artists and employers to raise and maintain safety standards for all arts forms and for relevant matters to authorities, because those who work in the creative arts are important and they have been neglected for too long. That certainty in their work and feeling safe in their workplaces is just as important for any Australian in the workplace.

We'll set minimum standards and rates of pay for the sector, because people should not get away with being underpaid as artists. That has happened. You've got the classic cliche of the poor artist living in a shed doing their artwork, the genius artist—that's not good enough. That is a cliche, a stereotype. Artists and those who work in creative arts should be getting the pay that they deserve like any other Australian in any other sector.

We also need to ensure that our great talent is acknowledged, recognised and fairly remunerated. That's an important principle. There are new councils being set up to guide the work of all of this.

There will be an Australian Council board, which provides advice around the sorts of services and programs that should be delivered with the new funding. This bill demonstrates the government's commitment to the arts sector in ensuring it supports all of the artists and arts organisations across the country.

The arts and those who work in the creative arts have suffered for a long time. They've been really neglected, passed over, and the importance of what their contribution is to our society has not been acknowledged, in a sense. That has been shameful. There has been nothing really in place for a period of time to support the rich art and cultural basis of Australian creative arts in this country. That is no longer. It is wonderful to be part of a government that pays such attention, commitment and passion to the arts, because the arts are so important to who we are.

During the pandemic, musicians and artists provided us with the relief we needed in those hard times. They supported us during a difficult time. They were neglected. They weren't recognised as workers, and they couldn't benefit from the wage subsidies as they were intentionally excluded as artists and artworkers. That's a substantive point that I make about the neglect. They provided such an important part of our lives and a contribution to society, yet they were deliberately excluded from the wage subsidies that flowed through during that very difficult time. Because they contributed such a richness to this country, I think there's been a lack of respect for far too long and it's important for us to rectify that. This is what this policy and this bill is also about. We're committed to changing this. We're committed to backing artists.

Obviously Labor has a fine tradition in this space. The last two cultural policies were delivered under Labor governments, Creative Nation under Paul Keating and Creative Australia under Julia Gillard. While the arts sector is essential from an economic perspective—it is a $17 billion industry and 400,000 Australians are employed—the sector is important from the culture and wellbeing perspective, from that perspective of being the heart and soul of our society and in many respects being part of identifying and telling the stories about who we are and why we are. The arts allow us to experience the world around us through a different lens, different perspectives and to provide us with a better understanding of the experiences of others as well. It is also very important for our mental health and wellbeing, and it helps preserve our culture. What is culture if it's not the stories we tell and the traditions we have?

Revival will ensure the arts sector can be treated with the respect that it deserves, because this government knows how important the arts are to our communities. Under Revive, our new national cultural policy, there will be a place for every story and a story for every place. This country needs to acknowledge that artists are creators and workers, and that's what we're doing as a government. Artists' working conditions need to reflect this. Their pay needs to reflect this. The way we support them needs to reflect this. This government is truly committed to bringing back respect, acknowledgement and real substantive support for our artists and for the arts sector. This bill will ensure that our artists and the arts sector are supported in a way that recognises the rich contributions artists make to our country and to our culture.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Next week the Sydney Film Festival will open with the premier of an Australian feature film The New Boy, directed by one of our most celebrated Aboriginal filmmakers, Warwick Thornton, and starring one of our most celebrated actors, Cate Blanchett. The film screens alongside around 30 other Australian features, documentaries and shorts in this festival.

Seeing Australian films like this, shown amongst more than 200 international pictures, brings a sense of pride in Australia's contribution to telling stories that foster understanding, tolerance and belonging worldwide. Indeed, Australia has a rich cultural history, which has long seen us punching above our weight internationally. Our filmmakers, actors, musicians, bands, writers and painters—too many to name—have a reputation for excellence, for storytelling and for capturing the hearts and minds of people in Australia and across the world.

But recent years have been tough. The past decade has seen neglect in funding of the arts, compounded by the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The livelihoods of many of our arts and cultural workers were threatened and in some cases suffered irreparable damage. Some of our national institutions were cut dramatically and so couldn't even maintain their current infrastructure. The support provided in the government's cultural policy and partially implemented in the Creative Australia Bill 2023 is therefore imperative to the sector's survival and ultimately to its thriving. It's long overdue, and it's critical that it's passed and then built on.

Research from the Australia Council shows that Australia is a creative nation. Nearly every Australian engages with arts and culture. I see the students up in the gallery, and I'm sure that arts, culture, music and drama are some of their favourite subjects at school. A growing majority acknowledge the positive impact of arts in our lives—on our communities, on our mental health and in our education system. They also acknowledge the myriad small businesses that are part of creating, distributing and supporting the sector, which together mean that our cultural and creative industries contribute more than $112 billion to GDP.

Arts and culture are particularly valued in Wentworth. More than 92 per cent of all adults in Wentworth attend cultural events each year. Many of Australia's creative practitioners live in Wentworth, with more than 10,000 people working in the cultural and creative industries and more than 3,800 cultural businesses in the electorate. And we're blessed to have important creative venues like Bondi Pavilion, the Griffin Theatre, and Sculpture by the Sea, as well as many commercial and independent art galleries. Over the past year, many people in Wentworth have reached out to me regarding the cultural and creative sectors, and I'm delighted that this parliament has been able to deliver some of their many priorities, from restoring funding for Trove to strengthening incentives for film production through the location offset that was passed in the recent budget and is critical to the Disney studios, which are right in the heart of Wentworth and where I recently did a tour—being taken around the studio on a golf buggy—and seeing some of the absolutely world-class institutions that we have in Wentworth for making internationally acclaimed films as well as supporting the wonderful National Institute of Dramatic Arts, which is just outside Wentworth's borders.

We're taking positive steps, but there remains a long way to go. A key priority for people in Wentworth is supporting our independent screen sector and ensuring that we continue to tell Australian stories. A vital measure to achieve this is the introduction of Australian content quotas for streaming services. As more and more content is accessed via streamers like Netflix, Disney and Binge, access to Australian content is at risk. Without a legislative requirement for Australian content, these streamers may simply fill their schedules with cheaper repeats and international reality television. The cultural sector has long argued the importance of Australians being able to see and hear Australian stories, and I'm glad that the government shares this view. In launching its cultural policy the government stated that the arts are at the heart of our national life, and it is through the arts that we build our identity as a nation and a people. I couldn't agree more.

Telling authentic and diverse Australian stories helps us recognise who we are. They help create a sense of community and a sense of respect for our diversity, our history and our unique place. They help us understand each other and feel connected. I therefore welcome the minister's commitment to introducing content quotas for streaming services in the second half of the year. I urge the government to continue to listen to the independent screen sector, to protect Australian intellectual property and to ensure that original Australian stories continue to be seen on our screens.

Beyond screen quotas for streamers, there's still much to do to ensure our arts and cultural sectors flourish. Creativity, innovation, exploration and diversity are part of a dynamic arts sector, and we need this type of thinking to drive the experimentation and out-of-the-box ideas that help create both our sense of national identity and a society that is ready and willing to grasp the opportunities of the future. This parliament is moving in the right direction, and the government is rightly acknowledging both the social and economic importance of the arts, but we must not lose momentum. Reviving this sector is desperately needed.

I look forward to working with the government as it implements other aspects of its national cultural policy, including establishing a First Nations arts board, Writers Australia and the new Arts and Disability Associated Plan; providing greater support for commercial and philanthropic partnerships; and, absolutely critically, ensuring that funding goes directly to the artists, creative people and workers in the arts sector, who are the people we should be supporting through all these initiatives and whose ingenuity and creativity we are seeking to see flourish. I'm especially delighted that the minister has agreed to visit artists in my community of Wentworth later this year.

The national cultural policy rightly recognises the central role of arts and culture in developing a creative, innovative, respectful and successful society. I will work to ensure this government and future governments continue to help the sector thrive.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australian artists tell our nation's collective story. Albert Namatjira painted ghostly gums. AC/DC was a group of Fremantle boys who took the world by storm, singing about pubs along the Canning Highway in my electorate of Swan. And Bluey, Australia's favourite cartoon, which has a captive audience of both parents and children, has highlighted all things Australian. From the distinct architecture of the Queenslander to a script that has lifelong lessons for both children and adults, it captures in a unique Australian way our sense of who we are, our laidback attitude and our resilience, with good Australian humour.

There are talented Australian voices in Bluey, such as Leigh Sales, Bob Irwin and Anthony Field, the blue Wiggle. Bandit is voiced by David McCormack from the band Custard. The other thing that's beautiful about Bluey is the musical score. Each episode is a masterpiece of music, dialogue and art, weaving these multiple forms of art together. Another artist from my electorate of Swan is Jill Ansell, who was one of the finalists in the Archibald competition. Each are a source of national pride.

This government promotes and supports Australian artists because what they produce is more than a product. They give us a way we can learn more about different parts of ourselves and a way to project thousands of the beautiful intricacies of our national identity onto the international stage. The arts are also a part of Labor's identity. When the Dunstan Labor government in South Australia created the South Australian Film Corporation, it was when our film industry was floundering. It was an initiative that gave us Picnic at Hanging Rock, Storm Boy and Breaker Morant. The Whitlam government refined the process of providing funds to arts organisations through the Australia Council. Bob Hawke created Film Finance Corporation Australia, which we can thank for Muriel's Wedding, Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Australia's last two cultural policies were delivered under Labor governments: Creative Nation under Paul Keating and Creative Australia under Julia Gillard.

Some people perceive that science and maths are the opposite of art, but, for me as a scientist, I see them as two sides of the same coin. We both learn about the classics. We experiment using different parameters. Some of the work we do is edgy and groundbreaking. Some feel uncomfortable about the new space. Sometimes we create a work of art, but sometimes we don't and we learn from it. But both are needed for the future of humanity. I would say that there is a bias towards STEM, and it's because of this perception about creating products, but the truth is that we need both. As I said, it's like two sides of the same coin.

Australian creatives are incredibly talented people, but the seriousness of their work should not be lost on those opposite. It's a $17 billion industry which employs an estimated 400,000 Australians. In my home electorate, there are about 2½ thousand people who work in the arts. On my campaign, I met Rebecca Thomson, a fantastic community campaigner. Bec and Izzy McDonald created Labor for the Arts in WA, and I want to take this opportunity to recognise their work in promoting the scale of the contribution that Australian artists make to our communities, as well as the work that they have done in engaging the Minister for the Arts in developing our national arts policy.

We know it hasn't been an easy time for those in our arts industry recently. The pandemic created different fortunes for the arts. The pandemic recreated the shared experience of watching TV series worldwide, which had been fading from our culture due to on-demand services. Many of us clicked on to streaming services and plugged into shows like Squid Game, Tiger King and Bluey, while also tuning into our premiers' daily COVID updates. For streaming services, podcasts and online content creators, this was a period that boomed and rapidly changed the way we interacted with the arts.

For our traditional in-person cultural mediums, the pandemic was a catastrophe, and many of those industries have yet to recover. Live music, theatre and even the mighty film industry suffered tremendously during this period. At the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick, Steven Spielberg was caught on camera saying to Tom Cruise: 'You might have saved the theatrical distribution. Seriously, Maverick might have saved the entire theatrical industry.' Such was the dire state of the industry with all its component feeder pieces. It was almost at the point of collapse. I know how badly live music and touring artists were smashed in this period. My husband's son loves electro ambient music so much that he DJ's on a community radio station called RTRFM and, occasionally, in venues around Perth. In the context of Australia and the world, WA was relatively unscathed by COVID, thanks to the policies of our outgoing Premier of WA and the then health minister Roger Cook. But, even the few lockdowns that did occur had major effects on the WA music industry that still cause ripples to this day. This has been seen through not only a reduced number of events but also the diversity of operators.

The loss of local theatre, live music and film diversity in Australia is a huge loss to the collective Australian identity. These mediums are how we tell our collective stories and how we define ourselves. This has never been more important to us as Australians. We live in an amazing age of connectivity to the world, but we need to be able to support artists to express themselves in telling our ever-evolving story as Australians or we risk losing this important part of our national history. These stories can be as simple as existential songs about friendship and the dangers of kangaroos when driving at twilight on country WA roads.

Methyl Ethel is a Western Australian band that has benefited greatly from the creation of Australian music's main cultural music incubator, Triple J. Gough Whitlam was the visionary who recognised that an evolving Australian nation needed more of its own art and culture and established Australian's first youth radio station in 1975. Eventually that evolved into Triple J, and the music economy around Triple J has been the primary means of developing and marketing new music to a mass Australian youth audience and has paid back its investment many times over. In an interview on Triple J in 1994, former Prime Minister Paul Keating noted:

… Triple J's big contribution has been in breaking in new Australian bands and not just the Coral Snakes today, but INXS, Yothu Yindi, Midnight Oil …

I am thrilled to speak on this legislation that defines a new arts policy for Australia. The Morrison government not only failed to support the arts industry during the pandemic but kicked them while they were hurting. We are restoring $200 million of cut funding to the sector. We are creating a new dedicated body, Music Australia, to support and invest in the Australian music industry. We know that an investment in Australian cultural industries comes back to us many times over in our cultural exports and a thriving local industry. We on our side of politics are lucky to have a Prime Minister and a Minister for the Arts who share a devotion to Australian music and culture and continuing a long Labor tradition of supporting the arts and cultural industries.

The Creative Australia Bill will establish Creative Australia as a modern entity with a new governance arrangement, including establishing Music Australia and Creative Workplaces. The arts aren't just a hobby. For thousands of Australians it's a workplace. It's how they pay for a roof over their head. Like any workplace, it has its own occupational hazards. Creative Workplaces will work with artists, industries and employers to raise and maintain safety standards for all art forms and ensure that matters are referred to relevant authorities as appropriate. Creative Workplaces will set minimum standards and rates of pay for the sector. Organisations seeking government funding will be expected to meet these standards and, as a government, we should be working to ensure that when we are allocating taxpayer funds through grants we are diligent in ensuring that the standard for the arts sector is what the community expects.

Former Minister for the Arts George Brandis created his own fund by taking money out of the Australia Council. He allocated it to major art companies through his own program. It was a slap in the face for smaller groups that make up part of the bigger cultural picture. This bill delivers on key elements of Revive, the government's national cultural policy, to establish Creative Australia and return the George Brandis cuts. The bill establishes a new board as the governing and accountable authority of Creative Australia, reconstituted with appointments made under this new legislation. Membership will be increased up to 14 members. It responds to the more than 1,200 submissions on the national cultural policy and the 14 town halls, attended by 800 stakeholders.

When we make policy, we should be listening to the communities, not talking to them from the top down. This is a lesson that we learned from the ongoing Voice debates. Following from this, I would like to commend this bill to the House because it's a policy that will set a new vision for our cultural landscape. We need this, but we need to do this with the support of the arts sector.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Creative Australia Bill 2023. I'm a supporter of the bill. I would just like to make the point that, whilst I'm very happy to speak on this legislation, it is one of two debates I want to participate in today. The other one is the appropriations bill, which is important. It's the budget. I want to debate and talk about that on behalf of my constituents. There are 49 speakers lined up to speak on that in the Federation Chamber, and the government has decided that that debate will finish at the adjournment today. So it's very unlikely that I and a number of my colleagues are going to be able to speak on the appropriations bill, and I think that's a great shame. I'm informed by people who were here previous to me, who've been here a long time, that that was never something that the previous government would do. So I'd just make the point that I would like to be able to debate the appropriations bill.

However, I'm very happy to speak on the Creative Australia Bill 2023, and I'm a supporter of the bill as well. The arts are of great interest to me, and I'll go into that a bit later. Whether they're the performing arts, the visual arts, literature, or music, in my case, the arts are deserving of support and have received support from successive governments over a number of years.

This bill is unusual. It seeks to advance the government's legislative agenda to implement decisions announced as part of its national cultural policy. So far, the legislation which has passed has changed the name of the Australia Council to Creative Australia, so the Creative Australia Bill before the House gives effect to Creative Australia, an entity that will have expanded functions and responsibilities and a new governance structure, as the Creative Australia body replaces the Australia Council body.

This bill is also cognate with the Creative Australia (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2023, which will repeal legislation as it relates to the Australia Council—essentially, dissolving the entity of the Australia Council under law. And I'm getting a bit confused as well, if other people are. You would think this would mean that the new entity replaces the old and the Australia Council is consigned to history, but not quite. Creative Australia will be overseen by a group of people who will now be known as the Australia Council Board. The old board had 12 and this body will have 14. So the logic of this is not immediately apparent, but, when you consider that it was the Whitlam government which originally came up with the name Australia Council, you can understand the reluctance of those opposite to abolish it completely. The spectre of Gough remains. But that's okay.

I'd just make the point also that I think the Whitlam government did some good things in relation to the arts. But, if any of you have watched a movie called Don's Party, which is a great example of Australian filmmaking and a very entertaining show, the producers of that film actually had the former Liberal Prime Minister John Gorton appear in that film, as a nod to his support for and kicking off of the Australian film industry in the late sixties. I think Labor governments like to portray that they're the only ones who support the arts, but there has been a long history of successive governments supporting the arts, and I think the coalition government did some great things in the previous term. But I think this bill is good and deserving of support as well.

What's immediately apparent is that we will have, under this policy, more Commonwealth arts officials. I'm worried that that comes at the expense of actual artists. We'd like to see some of the money go into the pockets of artists and not of bureaucrats, although people have informed me that bureaucracy is an art in itself—something that I'm learning and seeing examples of here in Canberra.

According to the budget, the average staffing level for the Australia Council will increase by 32 per cent, from an estimated 108 in 2022-23 to 143 in 2023-24, and there have been programs that were funded under the previous coalition government that have been cut. I think that's a little bit disappointing. The point of arts funding is to deliver it to creative people who can, in turn, deliver something of cultural substance to audiences—including, particularly, regional audiences.

So, despite the fact that I do have some concerns and some criticisms, I support the government in this bill and in supporting the arts. I'm pleased that the member for Macquarie is going to come to my electorate and talk to some arts organisations in my community about how some of this funding will work and how they can get access to it.

Why are the arts important? Well, I launched, with the member for Higgins, yesterday, Parliamentary Friends of Men's Health, and I talked about three things as being critical for men's health in my view. I talked about diet—and I linked that to the great produce grown in my electorate and said that I will be fighting for policies that help farmers produce that great produce and will be fighting those, including some of those opposite, who are developing policies to destroy those farming industries—but I also talked about physical and mental health. Sport and the arts are two ways that I certainly sustain my mental health, through physical activity and also through my relationship with the arts.

There is a connection between the arts and healthy lives. The arts give us a chance to reflect on our place in the world, give us a chance to reflect on creativity and what creativity means, and can help us expand our imagination, particularly for me when I listen to music. If I listen to Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock, which is a great jazz album from the 1960s, I come away with my imagination and my mind enhanced and I sometimes do that. It helps me deal with life up here.

The arts are also important because they connect regional communities. There is a cultural exchange between arts from different backgrounds. You only need to come to a festival like the St Georges Road Food Festival and creative festival in Shepparton to see all these diverse cultural and artistic backgrounds coming together. Regional areas have never been cultural deserts, though, and I can turn to the Shepparton Advertiser of 1897, which talked about the Shepparton minstrel club being hailed for an entertaining evening to benefit the Mooroopna Hospital. The Mooroopna brass band back then performed a song called Think of me sometimes, Maggie. The evening came to a raucous close with a farce called Stewed Mice, which, according to the reviewer 'Fairly convulsed the audience by their antics'. Regional communities have been involved in the arts and in creating art that reflects back the issues we have to grapple with.

I have been involved in some plays. I have appeared as an actor in some plays for the Shepparton Theatre Arts Group. I had to put on a upper class English accent for one of them but I won't do that now. There are some great plays written by local people about local issues. They help us explore what we're going through and are of great benefit to helping us understand who we are. There have been some great visual arts shows and arts hubs—the G.R.A.I.N Store in Nathalia or Customs House Gallery in Echuca—live performances, secret garden gigs. The secret garden gigs are a great example of entrepreneurship from a young woman called Jamie Lee, who hosts musical gigs in somebody's garden. I have hosted one. I have also performed in one, a version of Radiohead's Subterranean Homesick Alienfor those who are interested. We have a lot of creative groups, including the Shepparton Arts Group. They do it for love and enjoyment and to benefit the wider community.

I want to make a point about one of the really great initiatives in my region, one that was wholeheartedly supported by the former coalition government—that is, the Shepparton Art Museum. The Shepparton Art Museum has a significant collection, particularly of Namatjira artworks. It also has Kaiela Arts, which is a First Nations industry that has working artists. Some people come to see the more broad, more historical and more famous art, like Albert Namatjira. People can go into the art gallery and see more modern interpretations of art in our region and purchase those, and that sustains artists with an income. That is such a wonderful thing for my community, the Shepparton Art Museum, but it took a sustained effort from the local community and the support of the federal government. My predecessor, the former member for Nicholls, Damian Drum—some might know him as a footy coach with a love sport—was wholeheartedly supportive of and instrumental in getting federal government funding to help build that Shepparton Art Museum. It stands as a legacy for that coalition government, and I am very thankful for them for supporting that. There is also a number of other art museums. The Silo Art Trail—art works that are painted on wheat silos around the district—is fantastic.

I want to talk about art being able to help people express themselves in a unique way. I want to talk about a young man called Lee Nelson. Lee is autistic and he has found expression through his art. I saw his art works in an exhibition at a gallery in a place called Kyabram. I was really taken with the different way that he sees the world I don't like it when people refer to autism as a disability; Lee sees the world differently to a number of other people and he expresses that through his artworks. I was very moved and I bought a lot of his artworks, and they're proudly hanging in my electorate office in Shepparton. I think we need to foster places where new artists can develop, perform and make some income out of their artworks so that they can continue to create great art.

I'm interested to see how it works, but I like the idea of Music Australia and I want to see how that can get some money into the pockets of young, aspiring musicians, people who would have been able to sell records and CDs back in the day, but in the days of online streaming it's a bit harder. I'm interested to see how that works and I commit myself to working collaboratively with those opposite because I want to make that work. I was in a band called the Hunted back in the naughties. We put out an album and I wrote a song called 'Ballad of the Aimless Artist', about a guy who wrote a Japanese haiku poem and couldn't understand what it all meant, or what art meant. I'd really like to see a lot more support for young musicians, and I hope this bill can deliver that. I'll work with those opposite to help this happen.

These changes are part of the broader implementation of the government's national cultural policy. I'm a real supporter of the arts—it's one of the things I came up here for. I want so see regional arts continue to thrive. I believe they have done well under the previous coalition government, despite what some may say. I've had more than a few people from arts organisations come up to me and say, 'We're all lefties, we probably vote for Labor and the Greens, but I have to admit the coalition government probably supports the arts more than Labor governments, traditionally.' But I'm pleased with this bill and I'm pleased with the commitment. I think that's great and we're supporting the bill. I would also point out that I think this should lead to better outcomes for actual artists and not just bureaucrats, even though the art of bureaucracy is a beguiling one. I'm heartened by the indication that regional arts will receive some support and funding under this new national policy. I'm keen to see how and how much. I'm looking forward to working with the member for Macquarie, who is going to come to my electorate. Let's get on and work together. This should be a bipartisan one. We all believe in the arts. We all want to see artists do well. We all want to see creativity at the forefront of the Australian national identity. For me, as a regional MP, particularly seeing how that works for regional people and regional stories and regional arts, I indicate my support for the bill. I'd like to be able to debate appropriations—I'll get that in before my time runs out, though it looks like I won't be able to and I'm disappointed about that. I commend the Creative Australia Bill and look forward to seeing if we can get some more action in regional arts.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before the member for Nicholls leaves the chamber, I'd like to bring to his attention the fact that the program for the appropriations bill consideration in detail was brought into this chamber and not opposed by those opposite. That timeline was set by this parliament. It hasn't been gagged in any way, shape or form. It has been on the list since the budget.

I welcome the member for Nicholls' comments around this important Creative Australia Bill 2023. I had the absolute pleasure on 30 January of joining the member for Watson, lots of our colleagues and the creative industry members in Melbourne at the Espy hotel to launch this policy. It's a pleasure to be in the parliament today to support the legislation going through and to commend this legislation to the House. As the member for Nicholls said so eloquently, everyone in this place supports the arts. I want to mention why I really like the title of this being Creative Australia. If you look at it through the lens of creativity, it broadens the conversation about the arts. It broadens that conversation. It takes that conversation out to suburbs like the suburb where I live and the suburb where I grew up. Creativity does need to be at the forefront of our thinking. Creating vibrant, young, creative minds and a place where they can thrive is the business I was in for 30 years before joining the parliament, because creativity happens in our classrooms. Creativity happens in the curriculum that we create and mandate for our schools. Space and time in that curriculum needs to be provided for the development of creativity young people.

I want to note, with my education hat on here, that we often hear—even yesterday I was listening to someone talk—about our skills shortage and VET and VCAL and training and the thinking that we should look to northern Europe. They mean Scandinavia. They've stopped saying Finland. But when people talk about how well Finland do in education, I always want to remind them that one of the things Finland made a decision about was mandating the creative arts to the final year of high school, and they did so because they understood that all of the learning, put together, without creativity, doesn't create a new future; it just continues the old.

So creativity here and supporting the workers in the creative industries is, I think, incredibly important. I note, too, the notion from the member for Nicholls about workers in the arts, or artists, being able to sustain themselves. I want to see them thrive, not sustain themselves. I want to see them earn from their creativity. I want to see them not just be celebrated—as we do celebrate them in Australia—for their quintessential Australian riffs that we all hear in our heads when we think of particular times in history. We can hear the music that went along with those periods in history—the quintessential Australian riffs. Those riffs vary, obviously, according to the era and the sound track of your life. My sound track is very different to lots of sound tracks in this place. My sound track is quintessentially suburban Australia. That needs to be celebrated, but we need the support in place to ensure that that Australian voice, that Australian riff, goes on being created for the next generation and the generation after that.

I began teaching at the beginning of the great years for the Australian film industry. That has also been referenced here. I remember watching Peter Weir movies and being absolutely in awe. I was seeing Australian stories on screen for the first time and, as a teacher, I remember being able to take them into classrooms and watch children's faces as they recognised the places, the accent, the voice. I remember sharing Tim Winton with year 8 children and asking them what it was about this piece of writing that excited them so much and watching them dig down until they started reading it aloud and realising that what they were reading was Australian. I remember putting another piece of text, a universal piece of text, in front of them, but having them realise that their voice wasn't in this piece. But in Tim Winton's work they found their voice, they found their speech, they found their patterns, they found their turn of phrase.

Supporting Creative Australia is incredibly important. As others have said, the workers in this industry were abandoned during the pandemic and were not supported in the way that other workers in this country were, to our national shame. I think this legislation turns and pivots Australia back to a place where there's going to be money to support the industry and the creatives in this country. But, more importantly, it will ensure that they have safe work places, because some of the stories that we've heard that have emerged out of our creative industries have also been distressing, and it's very important that we create safe work places.

I want to spend a bit of time talking about another issue. There are those who will go on and make a living in the creative arts and who will thrive in the creative arts. There are others for whom, as the member for Nicholls referenced, art is a way of finding expression. As one who worked in schools, I know the power of art therapy for young people. Finding a way to express themselves through arts can often lead to a more stable existence, a way to express themselves that stays with them for life and that they go back to time and time again in their lives to pull themselves out of a place of despair perhaps or a place of loneliness or a place where they're feeling less than hopeful. I've seen young people be involved in art therapy and, having known them across their lifetime, they still reference those periods in schools when art therapists were supported and paid well to come into schools and work with young people to build their creativity and to help them tap into those things. So, like the member for Watson, I'm very excited about the Creative Australia funding and the policy, the pivot and the shift, the inclusion of safe workplaces as part of this program and the recognition of people involved in Creative Australia as legitimate workers who need to thrive in the industry in which they work.

Let's think about Australian music. If you're like me and you're from the suburbs—I've never been to the ballet and I've never been to the opera, and I'd probably never go to either, ever, but for me—the importance of Australian stories being told can't be overestimated. Whether it be through music, whether it be on stage, whether it be through film, whether it be through performance art, whether it be through any form of art, that recognition of yourself, of us as a country and of the place you live and having it celebrated or having the world presented to you through a prism that is your home can't be overestimated in terms of our own identity but also in terms of our self esteem.

As young teacher, I watched those Australian films in that period. I saw them on the big screen, and it filled me with a pride about who we are and the unique way that we see the world. Having our stories from our local communities being performed, whether that be locally or whether they end up on much larger stages or travelling the country, those moments are critically important, because it's through the reflection of those stories, through an art prism, that we come to new understandings about how we get things done, how we change things, how we celebrate things.

All of these things are incredibly important, and I'm really pleased to be member of this government. I notice the member for Watson has joined us in the chamber. I want to congratulate him, personally, and his team for the work that they are doing in this space. It's a lifetime of commitment for the member Watson. I know everyone has memories of election night, but I remember a moment when I went: 'We're back. Labor are back. The arts are back. Australians will feel proud of themselves again,' because the bottom line for me is that when we celebrate the arts, when our artists thrive, we get to feel pride in our country, in our way of life and in our unique way of seeing the world, as someone said yesterday, from the bottom of the world or the top of the world, depending on where the globe is turning. We like to think of ourselves on the bottom of the world and shining bright and much larger on an international stage. Our artists give us that.

In our lounge rooms, in our kitchens or at our backyard barbecues, we hear that quintessential Australian riff, whatever it is for you—it's not hip-hop for me; I believe it is for the Treasurer. It's not DJ Albo's music for me. It's likely to be a much more suburban version of all of those things for me, but, when you're at that barbecue and you hear that music—I can give you this moment. I've got friends at home, they're the netballers that I've coached for many years, and one of them is overseas and has been for some time. We get a phone call, and in the background someone changes the music, because the person on the end of that phone needs to feel homesick while they talk to us, they need to think about Melbourne, they need to think about the MCG. I can't imagine who we played! Everyone in this chamber knows! Those moments are really important, they fill me with pride.

When I walk into this place in the morning, it's Australian music in my ears. It's Australian music in my ears as I come through and walk along the road and look at the Australian flag above Parliament House, because we are all proud of our country, we're all here to create a better country, and this goes some way to delivering on all of those things. I'm really proud to be part of a government that is going to deliver it.

I want to congratulate the member for Macquarie, as well, for her role as the envoy. Her commitment is also quite amazing to watch and absorb. Her interests are much broader and wider than mine, but in terms of the arts, there's an artist in all of us; there really is an artist in all of us.

I'm a girl from Werribee. I grew up admiring lots of people and lots of people's creativity. I was involved in a grassroots campaign that went for about 2½ years. About a year after we'd won this campaign and defeated Jeff Kennett and CSR, the multinational that was coming to destroy our lives, a friend of mine said to me, 'Joanne, we should write the play.' This person is now thriving as a playwright. We co-wrote a play that was dramaturged by the MTC and had a week's screening at home in Werribee in our local arts centre and at La Mama Theatre. So, I had an 18-month period when I was embedded in the world of these artists and had the pleasure of meeting the actors who are so committed to their craft, to performance and to Australian stories and to work with them and watch them work. And then to sit and see our story on the stage at La Mama was the most extraordinary thing. It was incredibly special, and it also gave me an insight into the precarious nature of these workplaces, where, from one week to the next, they have to ask, 'Will I be working or won't I be working?'

Anything we can do in this parliament to support those creative people amongst us to do this work, to tell our stories and to share who we are and what we are is important. This is a fabulous first step around that. I love the wording; I love the phrasing. For me, it brings the arts right back into my backyard, at my barbecue. Thanks, Member for Watson. I commend the bill to the House.

Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's my pleasure to speak on the Creative Australia Bill 2023 today, if not a little daunting to see the author of it in the House with us. Being creative is definitely good for the soul and it's fundamental to the way we as human beings work, live and start to thrive. We all know, as the member for Lalor discussed, that it is good therapy to create and express yourself, and we need places where we can do that. The former member for Werriwa, Gough Whitlam, was a great supporter of the arts. He said:

A society in which the arts flourish is a society in which every human value can flourish.

That's why, since 1975, the Australia Council has been the Commonwealth arts investment and advisory body. It was Whitlam who decided that Blue Poles was a good investment. Better still, it was the picture on his Christmas card that year, for every person he sent a Christmas card to—and from the Prime Minister, in the days before emails, that was a significant number. And Australians got to enjoy the good and precipitous decision to get Blue Poles. I remember the discussion at the time about how much it cost, but it is now invaluable to our community and it's something the National Gallery has on display all the time, for everybody to look at. That's just how wonderful arts are for our community.

This bill will restore and modernise the Australia Council, which, unfortunately—like so much in our economy over the past 10 years—has been undervalued and destroyed by previous governments. The new name will be Creative Australia. The bill will strengthen the capacity of the Australia Council and provide greater strategic oversight and engagement across the sector, ensuring that funding decisions continue to be made on the basis of artistic merit and at arm's length from government. It's not about whether or not I like the ballet or whether or not I like hip-hop; it's the fact that everyone in Australia will have a voice and all their artistic endeavours will be part of it.

In the electorate of Werriwa I have a fantastic arts facility, Casula Powerhouse. They put on so many different exhibitions and so many different plays. But, more importantly, they are a community arts facility that support my community and people that come from migrant backgrounds.

I have had the pleasure on so many occasions of going and seeing young people from Miller Technology High School who have come to Australia from the worst of circumstances, from refugee backgrounds, from places like Afghanistan and Iraq, where they had to leave under the cover of darkness and leave everything at home. There is a program at Miller Technology High School which helps them talk about that. It helps them address the trauma and the disconnect they have from the Australian society that they are now living in. All of a sudden, they know they are safe. There are no bullets or other things. But it is really hard, particularly for younger children, to be able to process that. These performances and discussions and the teachers that support them through that just makes so much difference to their lives. It also gives them an insight into what education can be and just how wonderful that is. So we need arts for every part of the community.

This bill will also include the establishment of independent bodies, funds for First Nations arts and culture, contemporary music and writers, as well as a Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces. The implementation of the Australia Council reforms under the national cultural policy will be staged to allow for necessary consultation. This is something that this government is really invested in—that people get a chance to say what they want. Instead of talking at people, we will be listening and implementing. A number of these elements will require implementation from 1 July 2023. These are covered in this bill and will be the first tranche.

The bill provides for the Australia Council to operate under the name 'Creative Australia', and additional functions in this bill will also enable the Australia Council to commence work for the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces and Music Australia from 1 July. The Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces will work with artists, industries and employers to raise and maintain safety standards for all art forms and ensure matters are referred to relevant authorities as appropriate. It's important that everyone has a safe workplace. These workplaces are no different, even though they are creative ones. Music Australia will support the Australian music industry to grow, including through strategic initiatives and industry partnerships, research, training, skills development and export promotion. A follow-up bill will be introduced later this year to establish these critical bodies. Ongoing consultation with the sector will inform this legislation.

The bill provides authority for the Australia Council to deliver Creative Partnerships Australia, including the ability to attract public and private support for the arts and undertake research on public and private investment for the arts. This increased access to private sector funding for the arts will maximise the impact of public investment and support a sustainable arts centre. The transfer of Creative Partnerships will leverage the Australia Council's expertise and bring together arts philanthropy and arts funding with one entity to create synergies between public and private partnerships as well as government and philanthropic investment. That is really important. The arts are for the whole of our community, and all of our community should be part of that.

This bill allows the Australia Council to assume responsibility for the Australian Cultural Fund from 1 July, including for all donations made prior to the transfer. The Australian Cultural Fund is an important mechanism used by Creative Partnerships Australia to deliver its objectives to grow the culture of giving to arts and culture, bringing donors, businesses, artists and organisations together. It's really important that these creative people, be they musicians, artists or whatever, get paid properly for their work so that it actually can be what they do, rather than having to sustain themselves with several other jobs.

Through this legislation, the Australia Council will assume responsibility for assisting Australian artists and arts organisations to attract and maintain support from donors and businesses, diversifying their sources of revenue, and encourage and celebrate innovation and excellence in giving to, and partnerships with, the arts and cultural sector. Under the bill, Creative Partnerships Australia Ltd will cease to exist and will be taken to be deregistered under the Corporations Act 2001 at the time of transition. The bill also includes transitional elements to support a smooth transfer of functions and ensure the continuity of business between Creative Partnerships Australia and the Australia Council.

I again thank the member for Watson for all he has done for our creative partnerships. I've seen firsthand in my electorate what a difference it makes when you fund everybody, from the community grassroots level to the big picture. I commend the bill to the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am so proud to lead a government that follows in the footsteps of every Labor government that has recognised and respected the centrality of culture and the arts to our quality of life. After just one year in government, with the Creative Australia Bill 2023 and the associated legislation, we are keeping another important promise. In the process, what we're doing here is resetting the government's relationship with the arts sector—a sector that was neglected under the previous government and sometimes, indeed, openly held in contempt. This $17 billion part of our economy was not considered worthy of their serious attention and certainly not their respect. But, of course, we can't reduce everything in life to dollar figures in the economy.

Quality of life relies upon cultural experience. It requires a lifting-up that the arts can sometimes give us in our lives, not only in giving us access to different perspectives but also in enriching the quality of life and the way that we engage with each other in our discussions, be it around the dinner table, at the local pub or in our community engagement. It is a way in which we can tell the Australian story, whether it be through the written story or the depiction of our landscapes, or whether it be through music, dance or other ways. I attended recently the commemoration of Qantas being such a long-lived airline. It was well overdue, of course. Their centenary was put off because of the pandemic. I saw a performance there of the Bangarra Dance Theatre that was uniquely Australian. The international visitors were uplifted. They were stunned by the quality of the dance—65,000 years in the making, but a modern depiction. That sort of work is, in my view, absolutely priceless.

A lot of hardworking Australians work in the arts sector. Not everyone in this sector is successful. So many do it because of the love that they have for it, not because of any pecuniary interest in it—indeed, far from it. But we need to make sure that they are valued. During the pandemic, very early on, of course, there was so little support. When it did come, it was very grudgingly given, even though people in that sector, by definition, couldn't work—not just the people who were performing, say, at the Enmore Theatre in my electorate, but also the people who work in areas such as lighting, stage management, producing and cleaning the theatres. Those people all found themselves being very much left behind because the very nature of the work is that it's casual in so many areas, with multiple employers as well. It took some time before there was any acknowledgement from the former government about the impact that was happening. This policy recognise that arts work is just that—work. It is employment as well—it's not just a hobby. It isn't just someone trying to make a difference as a hobby while they take a break from another job. It is real, meaningful, personal work that happens to make us wealthy in ways that extend far beyond the economic. It is the sort of wealth that enriches our spirit. As my friend the arts minister put it last week, the arts are:

a pipeline into our hearts, one that lets us see and celebrate and reflect on who we truly are and can be and one that lets the rest of the world see Australia and its inner self.

The arts tell us stories. The arts ask questions, sometimes uncomfortable for those of us in public life, but that is a good thing. In the arts, we feel joy and celebration. We deal with pain and we reflect on truths that aren't always easily told. The arts lift us, individually and collectively, and they strengthen the bones of our communities. What the arts add up to is a never-ending journey of discovery. That is how the arts can bring us together. It is how they create shared understanding and common purpose. Without ever seeking to iron out the differences that make our nation so vibrant, strong and attractive, we will always seek out the common ground between us because that will always be the most fertile place to plant our dreams.

On Monday of this week I had the great honour of giving a eulogy for John Olsen at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. I titled that 'A poet of the brush,' and indeed he was. I acknowledge that the arts minister and the shadow minister will both in attendance, as well as the New South Wales premier, at what was a joint memorial from the Australian and the New South Wales governments. It was an extraordinary gathering of people from across the arts sector to celebrate an incredible life. One of the things that John Olsen did was persuade us to see Australia with fresh eyes, to look at this great landscape of ours, with all its familiarity and extraordinary antiquity, and see it in a new light. He summed it up himself in the opening of a retrospective on a career that for most of us was already in its maturity by the time we were born, and I quote,

We've got the richness of emptiness which for some reason was known as the dead heart … That's a lie! That's not true! It is teeming with life. And this kind of thing is an exciting thing. To be an Australian artist is to be an explorer.

John Olsen is one of our greatest ever artists, and this was a celebration of his rich life and his contribution to lifting up all who have had the privilege of seeing his work, whether it be in an art gallery or, indeed, in his famous major artwork at the Sydney Opera House, for everyone who goes through that most magnificent of buildings—a piece of art as architecture, one that is revelling in its beauty. When I hosted President Obama just a month or so ago, we went for a walk around Government House and President Obama said, 'That is the world's best building.' And isn't it good that Australia can do that? It can aim high. That's what the arts can do. That's what Australian artists can do across the full spectrum of what the arts are, whether it is architecture, poetry, writing, music, culture, dance. It can be the best, and we can strive to really make a difference. It can be a way in which we reflect ourselves to the world.

Last Wednesday, when we hosted Prime Minister Modi at the Opera House as well, that depiction was shown to 1.4 billion people in India. That's good in and of itself—a source of pride and acknowledgement of the relationship between our two nations—but also an economic benefit from that as well. If a tiny, minuscule portion of the people who see that say, 'Yes, I'll go to Australia' rather than the alternatives then that's the best investment that you could ever possibly make.

That's why we needed to value the arts. When we announced with the minister the funding for the National Gallery to lift it up, I made the point that we have a piece of art there—Blue Poles, by Jackson Pollock—controversially purchased by Gough Whitlam, criticised at the time but a far better investment than any investment that's ever been made by a coalition government. It is worth $500 million, and yet we have buckets to collect water from a leaky roof in the building that houses it. We must do better. Under this government, we will do better. It makes sense.

Earlier this year, we announced Revive, our comprehensive policy to revitalise this beloved sector. It's structured around five interconnected pillars, with 'First Nations first' because we recognise and respect the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia's arts and culture. There is 'a place for every story', which reflects the breadth of our stories and the contribution of Australians as the creators of culture. The 'centrality of the artist' supports the artist as worker and celebrates artists as creators. 'Strong cultural infrastructure' provides support across the spectrum of institutions that sustain our arts, our culture and our heritage. The fifth pillar, 'engaging the audience,' is to ensure our stories reach people at home but, importantly as well, abroad.

The establishment of Creative Australia is a reimagined and properly funded Australia Council that will encompass new functions, including Music Australia to support the Australian music industry and the Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces, within Creative Australia, to provide advice on issues of pay, safety and welfare in the arts and culture sector. There's more to come, including Writers Australia, which will provide direct support to the literature sector from 2025, and the establishment of a poet laureate for Australia. There will be a dedicated First Nations governance body within Creative Australia to invest in, create and produce First Nations works and with priorities and funding decisions determined by First Nations leaders.

We have a great nation here in Australia. We have incredible stories to tell, songs to sing and pictures to create. This government will keep doing things to put the even greater Australia that we know is possible within our grasp, and that's what this legislation that's before us today is aimed at doing.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to say a few words about this very important industry and the consequences of the Creative Australia Bill 2023, which we will not be opposing. I want to put on the record some of the achievements of the former coalition government. First of all, the national cultural plan that is at the heart of these changes is not a new idea. Many of us sat on the Standing Committee for Communications and the Arts and tabled a very significant report, Sculpting a national cultural plan: igniting a post-COVID economy for the arts, with the chair being Angie Bell. Yours truly was the chair during the creation of that report, but due to ministerial upgrades I wasn't there to table it.

During 2021-22, the coalition government spent $1.07 billion on the creative industries and the arts, protecting it through COVID. Between 2019 and 2022, the total COVID support was $1.153 billion: $400 million for the Location Incentive, $220 million for the RISE Fund, $187 million of new funds for national collecting institutions, $90 million for the Show Starter Loan Scheme, $50 million for the Arts Sustainability Fund, $50 million for the Temporary Interruption Fund, $40 million for Support Act, $33 million for Screen Australia, $31.9 million for the Australian Children's Television Foundation, $31.4 million for regional and Indigenous arts and $20 million of funding for independent cinemas. That is no mean feat.

The national cultural policy consists of quite a few re-announcements of policies that we announced and initiated, so of course we're going to support these changes. They've just rebadged it—they got rid of the Australia Council and called it Creative Australia. For instance, a 30 per cent tax offset for digital games production announced in the 2021 budget is announced as though it's something new in the national cultural policy. A commitment to stronger intellectual property protections for Indigenous arts and artists was also announced in October 2021, and a legislated requirement for Australian content on streaming video-on-demand services was announced in February 2022. We obviously lost the election, so we're not here to implement them, but a lot of these ideas had their genesis in that exemplary standing committee report that I mentioned and in the work of the former minister for communications and the arts.

My overriding concern with the re-creation and expansion is that I hope a lot of this money doesn't just go into more bureaucracy rather than supporting artists. I hope the new entities, Music Australia and the creative workplace entity, which will operate under the new entity, won't destroy the flexibility, nimbleness and freedom of the creative gig economy and turn it into a unionised workplace. As I said, the coalition won't be opposing this bill, but I want to put on the record all those matters and all the great work we did in the coalition, supporting the creative and cultural industries in this country. It is a huge industry. It deserves our support. We certainly did support it exceptionally through the dark days of COVID, let alone providing the support all the artists got out of JobKeeper.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think we're done! I want to thank everybody from each side of the House and the crossbench who's contributed to the debate. In particular, I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister. Every post-war Labor leader has had cultural policy as part of the key legacies of their government in some way, but no Labor leader has brought it forward so early in a term as Prime Minister Albanese has done. That's because of his genuine commitment over his whole life to Australian storytellers and his resistance his whole life to the different attempts of culture wars to go after our storytellers, as we've seen too often.

I also want to pay tribute to the member for Macquarie, who is the Special Envoy for the Arts. A whole lot of the work with Revive was through a very intense and fast consultation process. To get an entire policy document like that together involved a lot of consultation and meetings. About half of those meetings were convened by me, but the member for Macquarie, as the arts envoy, very much took the lead in the other half. We would not have Revive without her work.

I want to also pay tribute to the many public servants. There have been different attempts in this debate by some to somehow denigrate 'bureaucrats'. It's a pretty noble term, 'public servant'—the concept of serving the public. And that's what those individuals did in making sure they met some time frames that were put forward by the government. They had every right to say, 'This is an impossible time frame,' because I said we'd get it done in six months; in fairness, it took seven. But we got there. What's happening now with this legislation will ricochet through communities around the whole of Australia. The evidence of that was seen in the different speeches given by people talking about the arts and the significance of it in their own electorates, including: members of the opposition, the members for Bradfield, Sturt, Casey, Nicholls and Lyne; members from the crossbench, including the member for Wentworth; and government members, the members for Macquarie, Lyons, Swan, Lalor, Werriwa and Wills.

Effectively what this legislation will do—presuming the Senate is kind enough to get through it in the same way we have—is give us a new organisation, Creative Australia, with the Brandis cuts returned and the funding that was meant to be there a decade ago finally possible again. We get a works-of-scale fund so that not only are they able to do the work for small and medium companies but they're able to start the investments that deliver the big works of the future. We get one organisation that brings the commercial, the government funded and the philanthropic funded together into the same body, instead of what it was for too long, which was that the Australia Council dealt with government funding, creative partnerships dealt with philanthropic funding and we just left the commercial world to look after itself—as though it wasn't the same workforce and as though it wasn't the same audience.

We then go one step further in the new organisation with Music Australia, acknowledging that, when most of us in this room were growing up, if you looked at the charts a good number were always Australian bands. There were a whole lot more venues back then. You'd listen to the radio and no matter what station you were on Australian music was absolutely part of the soundtrack to our lives. That, in so many ways, has slipped, and it's not because we don't have great artists. The artists now, if you go to a festival, are at least as good as and probably better than a whole lot of what we might have grown up with.

But we have the challenge now that the ways of making money that used to be there aren't there in the same way anymore. The number of venues isn't available, and opportunities for commercial success through album sales just don't happen in the same way they used to. So, we need a body that is able to make the fast decisions that need to be made to really enrich the contemporary music sector. We can no longer have a view that contemporary music isn't part of what federal government has to take an interest in. Now it'll be there, and with Music Australia it'll be right at the core.

But it's also the case, with Creative Workplaces being established, that we need to acknowledge the different institutions we have for safe workplaces with reasonable remuneration haven't been delivered for the creative sector. They're different sorts of workplaces. They're itinerant workplaces. The method of engagement is often not an employment relationship. But to think that the storytellers we rely on to tell often difficult and challenging stories have been experiencing that in the very workplaces where they're doing that storytelling needs to be dealt with, and Creative Workplaces will do just that.

I want to thank the many artists who, in difficult times, spoke up, in particular in what's known globally as the Me Too movement—coming forward and telling stories, sometimes knowing that in doing the telling they risked being ostracised and finding it harder to get work. But a whole lot of artists took that step. Had they not, we wouldn't have known about the need to establish Creative Workplaces. I want those artists who stuck their necks out in different ways—those arts workers and their union, MEAA, who said these stories needed to be told—to know that they have been heard by the government. And, in this legislation, we're taking specific action to make sure that those workplaces can be safe and fair.

I didn't know the Prime Minister was going to make the references to the Sydney Opera House, but I'll just conclude with this, because I think it brings so many threads together. Normally I stay in Canberra on a Thursday night and have dinner with some friends. Tonight I'm heading off, and I will be at that building. Tonight will bring together the best building in the world with projections of art—the art of none other than John Olsen is going to be projected there. And the performance work that'll be done tonight, which will be difficult and challenging, is from the artist Deena Lynch, who performs as Jaguar Jonze. She's a visual artist, she's a photographic artist, she's a performance artist and she's a contemporary musician. She was one of the artists who spoke out and put herself in jeopardy in different ways by doing that. But all of that comes together, tonight, with one of the artists who helped drive the cultural policy that we're now implementing, at a building which has housed our storytellers ever since it was built and is globally iconic, while this building is having projected onto it the work of one of our greatest visual artists.

I want those stories to keep coming. I want those new artists to keep breaking through. I want people, when they think of Australia, to think not just of the natural beauty but of the stories that are still being told—the new stories, the new creativity, and the stories that have lived on this earth and on this continent ever since the first sunrise. That's what's possible, and that's a decision that the parliament is taking in now implementing the key recommendation of Australia's cultural policy, Revive.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.