Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

An enormous amount of money. We have been focused, since COVID began, on how we could support this sector, and we moved very quickly. We had the extraordinary criticism that we announced our response too quickly from the same party who, on the other hand, criticised us for taking too long.

We provided a $250 million creative economy package, announced in late June of last year, and since then we've provided very substantial additional funding. Why are we doing that? Because of the jobs that the arts sector can deliver. The jobs are not just within the arts; if you go and see a show, movie, exhibition or musical, you probably go to a restaurant, a bar or a cafe; you might stay overnight in a hotel; and you might jump on a plane to go interstate. We're focused on supporting and building our arts sector. There are unprecedented levels of funding, and, frankly, just about everything the member said seemed to be out of touch with reality.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

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