Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Herbert that in part states:

… as a nation we have some of the world’s best artists, performers and administrators of the arts …

Obviously I support that part of the motion 100 per cent. I also recognise, since the member for Herbert is here, the wonderful work that the ABC does in supporting the arts, both in Townsville and around Australia. So I support that part of the member for Herbert's motion. In fact, last week and over the weekend we saw a wonderful display of Australia's emerging artistic talents when we saw over 300 dancers use their talents to protest Arts Minister George Brandis's savage cuts to arts funding bodies and the Australia Council, an independent, at arm's length entity, as other speakers have noted.

Across Australia, the arts community staged protests and there were flash mobs in Melbourne, saying, 'Why would Senator Brandis cut $110 million from the Australia Council? These cuts are already affecting young and emerging artists, with the Australia Council announcing last week that they will not proceed with the next round of arts funding grants. They have already had to scrap completely or suspend programs that were targeted at small- to medium-sized arts companies, and young artists.

Senator Brandis has moved most of the funding for the arts to a new body, to be run Soviet style by his own department. Essentially, Senator Brandis will have ultimate control over what art deserves to be funded and what does not. Now, artistic dissent will require ministerial approval—a sad day that we did not see even in the darkest days of the Soviet Union. Senator Brandis will be making decisions with no published criteria, no peer review system and without any proper justification. The framework is the artistic fear and favour according to 'Bookshelves' Brandis.

The Australia Council is an independent body, with independent experts, who make informed decisions about funding, at arm's length from meddlesome politicians. One of my constituents, John from Annerley, emailed me on Friday to inform me of the impact these cuts will have personally on his son. John's son, and his business partner, started a theatre company nine years ago. It has been very successful. They present theatre work for children aged 2 to 5, promoting friendship and resilience. They have travelled to entertain and inform children throughout Australia, and to Korea and India. This year they have been invited back to Korea and will also be going to Iran. They are not just going to Paris or Vienna, they are actually going to engage with Asia.

The making of this artistic program and its international success was only possible because of four separate grants from the Australia Council. Three of those grants were national and international market development grants—grants connected to Australia's interests in Asia. Due to the cuts by Senator Brandis, the so-called arts minister, these project funds are now not available from the Australia Council.

They say the funds that were awarded through a 'transparent and bipartisan process' are now to be moved to an excellence fund controlled by Senator Brandis, but we do not know his definition of excellence. Maybe literature will have the inside running—certainly, 'Bookshelves' Brandis literally likes taxpayer dollars supporting his reading interests.

But back to John from Annerley. He explained, 'Having just spent 10 years working to understand, navigate and access resources from the complex structures that support arts and culture, to be able to access resources to employ the best artists to make the best possible art, it is frustrating to see these structures being dismantled.'

One of the programs that has already been hit by Senator Brandis's wrecking ball is the Creative Young Stars program. This was a program initiated by Labor when in government, a program where all 150 MPs were able to provide grassroots assistance to emerging local artists. This program, that went equally to all 150 MPs, was recently described by Senator Brandis as 'political interference in arts funding'. Political interference in arts funding when it went to every single MP? This is not only bipartisan, it is sesquicentennial-partisan—every MP was involved in it.

I met with a constituent at a street stall out in front of the Moorooka Woolworths on the weekend who had benefited from that program. He is a rap artist who is about to launch his third album and he was so grateful for the help from that program because it gave him the start he needed. That constituent's music may not be what the arts minister describes as excellent, but it is what Australia needs. I condemn senator Brandis for taking control of arts funding. (Time expired)

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