Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I would just like to speak again about the need for a regional focus on the arts. As I said, when we went to Kalgoorlie it was just fantastic. Patricia O'Callaghan from Townsville Enterprises and I went across to Kalgoorlie to represent Townsville. It was fantastic to see every region in Australia participating in this conference and the ability for each local region to be able to be in that space and be passionate about their arts scene.

I have to speak with a partisan voice when I come to this, because I do love my city and I love what we do in this space. There is Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and the way they present a bank building as a fantastic art gallery. We need to be able to redevelop that. We have Umbrella Studio, which does a fantastic job in print making and Aboriginal art, developing those talents and working in conjunction with James Cook University in that space.

We have a great society. If you look at the larger regional centres in Australia they are a microcosm of Australia. Sure, there will be gaps in the system, but there are people in there who are willing to make it work. There are schools in my city which have fantastic music programs, such as Belgian Gardens State School, which works into Pimlico State High School and Kirwan State High School. These are schools of excellence when it comes to their music programs. They make sure that music and art are an intrinsic part of the school curriculum.

It can be understood that if you are good at any of the arts then you can prosper in no matter what field or skill there is. The number of doctors, dentists and highly professional people who play a musical instrument have been able to put themselves in that space. They have a basic understanding of maths and then understand that music is so fantastic for mathematics. You have to be able to count and you have to be able to keep time. That is what music does; you have to be able to work outside your own brain to work and to be creative in that space. It is something that we should foster in this country.

My wife is an early childhood teacher. While she understands the need for the national curriculum, she does believe that it is becoming overcrowded. She does not believe that kids today should have to be able to work through geography and those sorts of things. It is a personal philosophy of hers. Other educators who I know say, 'You can still do the basics of English and mathematics; no matter which subject you are speaking of it is important that we do support the arts.' It is important that we do have an artistic perspective for our country, and especially for our regions.

It is incredibly important for regional Australia that we are able to protect that space. I thank the House.

Debate adjourned.

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