Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not going to take that interjection. Whatever it is, these things aren't just about creating art to perform or to show in front of an audience; they're also for the inherent joy of creating, of making something. Maybe the audience is only yourself. Maybe it's just a way to help you feel better through the existential crisis that we are all going through at the moment—COVID, climate change; there's a lot of anxiety out there, there's a lot of fear. So I say to the government that the arts are not a peripheral consideration. They're not a side issue. They're not some sort of thing that only a small proportion of Australians care about. The arts are fundamental to our wellbeing as a nation, and you guys need to get better.

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