Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak and follow on from the committee chair. The Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts, of which I am deputy chair, launched this inquiry into Australia's creative and cultural industries and institutions, which aims to explore the economic and non-economic benefits and employment of the creative industry, how the arts promote social cohesion and wellbeing, the impact of COVID on the sector and how to support innovation in the sector through advances in technology.

Today's update, brought to the chamber by the committee chair, was triggered by the phenomenal response the committee received to the sector survey issued recently. Nearly 5,000 responses were received—the second-highest number of survey responses to a House inquiry. It also reflects the vigour and energy applied to the petition recently tabled by the member for Watson and shadow minister for the arts, which called for JobKeeper to be extended to arts and entertainment sector workers. The petition, driven by Chloe Dallimore and the MEAA, gained over 36,000 signatures and called on the government to deliver to the sector a tailored and properly targeted relief package to ensure its ongoing viability. From these two points, it's not hard to conclude a number of things—notably, that the arts and creative sectors of this nation are sending their strongest message about the pain they have felt this year as the pandemic affected our health and their jobs. Through this it's also clear that Australia's creative sector feels it has been cast adrift without meaningful, tangible government support, especially if you are a young member of our nation's creative community or a champion of artistic and creative endeavour in regional Australia.

Whilst the government might point to its announcement celebrating hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to assist the sector, the cold truth is that many organisations have yet to feel or experience any benefit. It's worth pointing out here that if there were ever a community that gets symbolism and gesture, it's this one. It's a tool of their trade. They can easily interpret how much this government truly values them when emergency support announced with flourish 130 days ago hasn't materialised. You can't pay the bills with empty promises and pockets packed with confetti. The last session of Senate estimates found no grants approved under the $75 million RISE Fund and the guidelines had not been settled for the $90 million concessional loans scheme.

This inquiry is not founded on partisan lines, and nor should it be. Labor members on the committee are simply not interested in politicking. We think the inquiry is a terrific opportunity to think practically in long-term ways to promote the growth of a sector that is vital not just to our economy but to our national identity. But the creative community in crisis would find it perplexing, almost offensive, for me to not acknowledge in my contribution the pain the community is experiencing or to register their justifiable demand for help they rightly deserve. Hopefully the findings of the inquiry will encourage the government to convert word to meaningful and sustainable deed.

As part of the inquiry, the survey that was conducted received nearly 5,000 responses. Half were received in the first two weeks. Sixty per cent of the respondents had been in the arts sector for a decade, with 80 per cent having been involved with the arts community for more than 10 years. Half the respondents had no other form of paid work outside the sector; they are completely and deeply committed to the sector and its fortunes. As the chair observed, the majority of responses were from women. Feedback in the survey by people in the sector included: 'The government did not see fit to recognise my freelance status as worthy of JobKeeper. I have lived on savings while only having seven days work in seven months. My view is that there is no future in the arts in Australia unless the government step up to the plate and support the industry.' With the committee beginning public inquiries at the end of the week, it is important, now more than ever, that the sector be given a voice and be heard by government.

I would also mention that one of the elements of this survey is to look at the impact of technology on the sector. In this place I have been an unabashed advocate for the embracing of technology to improve the way we live and work. When it comes to the creative community, some in the sector may have, with some justification, viewed my passionate advocacy as being sometimes narrow or allowing little wider consideration of technology's impact. I apply advocacy in equal measure in listening to and considering different views, and I genuinely believe technology and our firms within that sector see themselves as natural partners, not adversaries, in the creative community's efforts to grow. From my point of view, this is one aspect of the inquiry I particularly look forward to exploring. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this and the fact that the survey has been brought to the floor of the House so soon.

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