Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to support this motion. Before I start my remarks, I would like to thank the member for Moncrieff for her beautiful speech on behalf of her friend. This motion talks not only about the amazing Don Burrows but the role that creative arts and culture play in Australian society. That is something that we should treasure. Clearly Don Burrows was a man that not only treasured that but contributed greatly to it. I didn't have the pleasure of knowing the great Don Burrows, so I did research before speaking on this motion. I found this quote of his which, the member for Moncrieff may well have been there for—I'm not sure. I understand, as we have just heard, that jazz education was one of Don's passions, and I understand that he said this:

Jazz is music that is passed on to each new generation by playing it, you can't learn it from the written page, or even by being told about it – you have to jam together. This means that most musicians of this genre have a mentor, and I was lucky enough to have the best.

Certainly the list of names that the member for Moncrieff read out sounds like he really did have the best.

Thinking about that quote really resonates—that connection between arts and culture and community and education. It is really important that governments support all of those sectors individually, but also because of the way they mesh together to make life bigger and better than it would otherwise be and make our society something more vibrant and happier than it would otherwise be.

Of course 2020 has not been a great year for the cultural and arts industries, like it hasn't been a great year for anyone. We know that those industries were pretty much the first hit. For many people who work in those industries they will be some of the last industries to be able to recover. Hearing about the life and legacy of Don Burrows, I am sure he would want to see live venues able to open their doors again after we get through COVID and have the financial means to be able to continue to operate, and who would like to see our institutions that educate about the arts and music and the humanities able to continue to do that, and, most importantly, for Australian to be able to continue to access them after we get through COVID. The arts industry is of course important for our souls and it's also important for our economy. It contributes some $111 billion a year and employs around 600,000 people, which I understand to be more than the mining and aviation industries combined. So, although there may be people out there who don't see the value of the arts for what they bring to our souls, the arts certainly also bring money to the bottom line of Australia and to our economy.

One of the things about arts and culture that I think is fundamentally important and we should never lose sight of is that it doesn't have to be for everyone. You don't have to be someone who wants to go to the opera. You don't have to like jazz or even understand it. You don't have to be someone who reads poetry. But your life is enriched because there are people that do those things and because those things exist. Everyone's life is in some way touched by our creative industries. If you're a gamer, the games that you play have been designed by creatives. If you read books, that's obvious. If you watch television, apart from reality television most other shows have some contribution from someone who's got a role in the creative arts and the cultural industry. So many people can't live without dance, and I just want to take this opportunity to say that I know that the dance studios in my electorate and many others are really struggling, and the young girls and boys and older participants who love dance are missing it. We know that that's an industry that needs government support to be able to get back on its feet, because it's so important for so many people.

I want to end this speech not by being critical of the government but by calling on them to think about the legacy of legends like Don Burrows and others and how important it is to make sure that every Australian has the opportunity, no matter how much money they have or where they come from, to study music, literature, humanities, history and all those things that make us richer from day to day.

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