Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Young Australians and Youth Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Queensland either way! That was a wonderful production from Queensland Theatre. To have a play, domestically written, domestically performed, about Queenslanders' rugby league passions and about the many, many, issues that intersect with our support of rugby league—community, race, class, gender; all of those things together—in a really Queensland setting demonstrates the value of Queensland organisations telling Queensland stories.

I want to see organisations like Queensland Theatre, and of course all of the many other arts organisations in Queensland, get a fair go, and they need to get a fair go from the Commonwealth. A good starting point is this. I've got in my electorate the Bille Brown Theatre, which is where the Queensland Theatre company holds the majority of its performances. It's undergoing a massive project at the moment to refurbish it, to turn it into a different style of theatre. It's absolutely wonderful what has been done to create a new performance space for Queenslanders, and I've been very proud to personally make a financial contribution to the Bille Brown Theatre. The Queensland government has made a contribution to the Bille Brown Theatre. I'd like to call on the Commonwealth government to make a contribution to the Bille Brown Theatre. It's really important that we support this important production company and theatre company. We also need to support local arts. Many electors in my electorate of Griffith have signed petitions online and on paper to call for the Commonwealth to support this project. I would love to see the Commonwealth step up and make a contribution to the Bille Brown Theatre, and I call on the government to do so.

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