Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In May last year, I stood here to give my speech introducing Revive and reintroducing Australia's national cultural policy. I spoke of Labor's history, our commitment to the growth of our creative industries and how economically and culturally important it was to us on this side of the House and how important it was to our national identity. In that speech, I mentioned some of the key players of Labor governments of the past who helped build Australia's cultural policy into what we are building today.

One of those people was the late Simon Crean, who we lost at this time last year, give or take a day, at the age of 74. Simon was Labor leader from 2001 to 2003 and Minister for the Arts from 2010 to 2013 under Prime Minister Gillard, where he made a significant contribution to what is now known as Revive. On 13 March 2013, Simon launched the national cultural policy Creative Australia, which was the successor to Creative Nation, which was delivered by Paul Keating in 1994. Simon considered Creative Australia to be a fresh expression of the values and priorities that would sustain Australia as a richly creative society in the 21st century, and it continued the spirit of engagement with the arts embraced by ex Labor prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating. Minister Crean described Creative Australia at the time as being 'about creating excellence, creating jobs, creating prosperity, creating opportunity and creating unique Australian stories, all vital to an outward-looking, competitive and confident nation.'

Labor is proudly and unashamedly the party of the worker, and that includes every worker's right to enjoy and explore creative expression. We are not just units of economic production. Workers are human beings, deserving of the full range of the human experience. Creative Australia presented a vision and strategy to place arts and culture at the centre of modern Australian life. It spoke of five overarching goals developed in close consultation with the community. Simon Crean was a passionate advocate for artists during his time as minister and after that as well, when he served as chair of McClelland Gallery. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Australian National Academy of Music and always understood and championed the value of arts in Australian society. More than a decade on, we are standing on the shoulders of giants as we revive Simon Crean's vision. His goals left a lasting legacy and established the framework that was central to the development of this Australian Labor government's cultural policy, Revive.

Culture and arts have an intrinsic value, but, for the hardheads amongst us, they have economic value as well, generating $13 billion a year and employing around 336,000 Australians. The Albanese Labor government are delivering on all the commitments we made in Australia's new national cultural policy. In the year since we launched Revive, we have already made strides in supporting our creative sector. We have established Creative Australia to modernise arts funding; reversed the Brandis cuts; established Creative Workplaces to improve workplace standards and safety; established Music Australia to support the contemporary music industry; established Sharing the National Collection so art is shared with regional and suburban galleries; extended lending rights so Australian writers are better paid; boosted funding for performing arts training organisations; provided more support for games developers, through Screen Australia; improved tax breaks for the video games industry; and increased funding to Sounds Australia to unlock international opportunities for our musicians—and the work goes on.

But this bill further delivers on two key commitments announced in the national cultural policy. While we've established Creative Workplaces and Music Australia, this bill will establish two new bodies within Creative Australia: First Nations Arts and Writing Australia, together with their respective governance bodies. The government respects and recognises the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia's arts and culture, and my friend the member for Moreton spoke about this quite eloquently in his speech earlier today. It's why First Nations art was put as the first pillar of the cultural policy. Extensive consultations were led by Creative Australia and were held with First Nations communities in 2023 and at the beginning of 2024, and self-determined decision-making was seen as a priority.

This government believes First Nations Arts should be, must be, First Nations led. First Nations Arts will be a dedicated new body to support and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice. The bill will establish a First Nations board to oversee the work of First Nations Arts. The First Nations board will be unique in that it will have autonomy over the allocation of funds for investment in First Nations Arts. The board will also promote best practice in cultural protocols, provide financial assistance to support arts practice, advise the Australia Council board on the responsibilities of First Nation Arts and report its performance to the Australia Council board.

Revive consists of five interconnected pillars, and the first pillar, First Nations First, ensures that we recognise and respect the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia's arts and culture—and we are already delivering on this vital first pillar. Since the introduction of Revive, the government has been delivering for First Nations artists. This includes providing $5 million to upgrade training facilities at NAISDA Dance College's Kariong campus, in New South Wales.

We have launched Australia's action plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, providing a framework to guide Australia's participation in the decade. The action plan was co-authored in partnership between the First Nations members of the directions group and the Australian government. We are providing continued support for First Nations people to express, conserve and maintain their culture through languages and the arts, under the Indigenous Languages and Arts program. And we continue to invest in First Nations arts centres, as well as pivotal sector organisations, through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program to benefit First Nations communities. We are continuing to seek the voluntary and unconditional return of First Nations ancestors and cultural heritage material held overseas and domestically, particularly the return of First Nations ancestors and secret sacred objects held in eight major museums.

Writing Australia will be a new body to support and promote Australian literature. It will be responsible for supporting authors, illustrators and publishers to create new works; investing in a network of key organisations; developing national industry initiatives; and increasing national and international markets. Technology is disrupting the landscape for writers—that's an understatement—and there is a need for government policy to be modernised. Writing Australia has been designed to reach into the commercial sectors where traditional grants funding models have had limited success. This body will become a policy engine for the sector, building partnerships and expertise that will both support artists directly and benefit Australian audiences.

This bill marks the completion of legislative changes to Creative Australia to enable the delivery of commitments under Revive. It is consistent with the government's strong commitment to our First Nations art and arts workers and to ensuring that our literature sector is world class and sustainable. Revive demonstrates the Albanese government's commitment to improving the quality of investment in the arts sector and to strengthening and streamlining access to support, including for artists and arts organisations.

As Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts, I am pleased to say that I am currently heading an inquiry into the Australian live music industry, which is another arm again. Since COVID, live music has suffered several setbacks, and it is another area we are taking seriously. Big festival events have cancelled or postponed over the past few years. We seek to uncover both the threats and the opportunities. A report by Creative Australia, based on a 2022 survey, indicates that something shifted in Australia's arts sector when COVID hit in March 2020. For instance, while 97 per cent of Australians said they engaged with the arts, and 68 per cent said they attended live events, attendance has been less frequent than pre COVID. Another report by the arts body found that just 56 per cent of Australian music festivals in the last financial year made a profit, citing impact from factors such as rising costs of insurance and policing. I am looking very much forward to hearing from organisers, event-goers and other stakeholders as our inquiry proceeds.

Our National Cultural Policy is a broad, comprehensive road map for Australia's arts and culture that touches all areas of government, from cultural diplomacy and foreign affairs to health and education. Under Revive, there will be a place for every story and a story for every place, and Tasmania wants more freedom to tell its own story, in particular. Our artists are both creators and workers. This sector is essential for our culture and our economy. As the sector recovers from years of neglect, followed by the pandemic, Revive is setting the arts sector on a new trajectory with fresh momentum. I commend this bill to the House.

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