Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move this motion with much glee. In 1992 the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy sang: ‘Television, the drug of the nation. Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation.’ I will give you the drum on this concept later in my speech. It is not news to people who know me—and my neighbours—but I am a strong supporter of the arts, especially writing and music. I am co-convenor, with Julie Owens, of the Labor Friends of the Arts. My bookshelves are packed to the rafters and my iPod has music from the four corners of the globe and includes all types except house. I say this to explain some of the history behind this motion.

For many years my good wife and I were addicted to a television police show from the United Kingdom, shown on ABC1 on Saturday nights. The show stretched right back to 1983. We have been clean for a while now. In fact, we went cold turkey on 16 October 2010. Our modern family is using my rehab journey to avoid all television and to rush out to engage with our local performers, our local artists and our local writers. Consequently, I encourage all Australians to turn off their TVs, to turn off Iron Chef or The Simpsons or Spicks and Specks or RocKwiz or MasterChef or Top Gear—whatever you are watching—to get off the couch and get closer to your local live performers. Do it today, tonight, tomorrow.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Live theatre! Hear, hear!

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be singers in your local pub or actors in your local theatre. See a play. School ruined drama for many, but live theatre is well worth the effort, I am assured by the member for Braddon. So you think you can dance? Well, there is good live music just waiting for you to rage to right now at the end of your street. You will be the biggest loser if you do not act. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am not just talking about your generation; I am also talking about all ages. We should all get immersed in the arts and tell our offspring, our brothers and our sisters that from sunrise to Sunday night there is something for everyone.

The Australia Council for the Arts published a report last year called More than bums on seats: Australian participation in the arts. This report gave a good insight into the level of our engagement with the arts. It found that in 2009 nine out of 10 Australians had participated in the arts—either by creating the arts, like the member for Braddon, or appreciating them. Literature is the most popular, with 84 per cent of Australians reading novels or poetry, but fewer Australians are familiar with the performance arts. About 16 per cent of Australians participate in creative writing, seven per cent in writing a novel or short story and five per cent in writing poetry. Thankfully, more than half of all Australians attend live music performances. About 22 per cent attend musical theatre. Thirteen per cent attend classical musical performances and eight per cent attend the opera. About one in four Australians attend theatre, with 19 per cent attending contemporary theatre and 10 per cent physical theatre or circus. Sixteen per cent attend ballet or classical dance.

Smart insiders know that we need to increase these percentages. This is not just about keeping up with the Kardashians. Rather, it is about valuing the contribution of the arts and how they help to shape our nation. Whatever our customs, the arts help us understand who we are, from creek to coast, and tell our Australian story through drama, dance, opera and music—whatever the medium. Make no bones about it, through the arts, and particularly the performance arts, we are challenged, entertained and inspired, and we value this gift to the nation.

British arts administrator Sir John Tusa said it best:

The arts matter because they embrace, express and define the soul of a civilisation. A nation without arts would be a nation that had stopped talking to itself, stopped dreaming, had lost interest in the past and lacked curiosity about the future.

Australia’s got talent out there. You only have to go down to your local pub or theatre and you will find people who have put in the hard yards and are able to make a contribution, and they need an audience. We should all get away and enjoy these people’s performances. Last week James Jeffrey, a writer from the Australian, poked fun at part of this motion in the Australian newspaper. Hopefully, if he now sees the full context of the motion, he will agree that it totally fits the bill.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For decades, Saturday nights have found many of us called to the television. The familiar sounds of sirens, flashing blue lights, theme music and the iconic pictures of two police officers walking towards the screen could only mean one thing: The Bill was starting. The Bill, an English police drama which ran for 27 years, was once Australia’s most watched television drama. It stood the test of time as great shows before it slowly lost against the more popular reality TV. However, sadly in July last year England’s ITV announced that Sun Hill police station would be emptying their cells, removing their police uniforms and shutting their doors permanently. There was no fire, no terrorist attacks and no mass murder. The show, as simply as it started, ended.

During the eighties and nineties, when The Bill was in its heyday, it became a real family affair. Children were allowed to stay up longer, dessert was allowed in front of the TV and even the family pet was sneaked in to sit around and watch the latest events occurring in and around the fictional suburb of Sun Hill, set in the rather realistic backdrop of east London. The Bill started at a time when television drama was at its peak, competing with great Australian shows such as A Country Practice and The Sullivans and following on from great British comedies such as Are You Being Served? and Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em. The British writers went out on a limb to provide a different type of drama. Thus The Bill was born—a bird’s eye view into the goings-on of a busy London police station.

The Bill was not an obvious hit. It was decidedly unglamorous, featuring leaden skies and dingy council estates. It was only signed on to 12 episodes, as the BBC was unsure that the audience would take to seeing the happenings inside a police station. But fans were gripped by the lives and exploits of the officers of Sun Hill police station and the series drew praise for its suspense filled story-lines and tight scriptwriting. Unlike many TV shows today, the story-lines had depth and feeling and the puzzle was not solved in an instant. The characters built relationships with the audience, and many of the names and faces of The Bill’s past will be embedded in the minds of many Australians. Names such as PC Tony Stamp, Sergeant June Ackland, DC Tosh Lines, DS Jim Carver and DC Mickey Webb entered our living rooms so often and for so many years they became a part of the family’s Saturday night rituals. I always used to know that The Bill was starting because my mother-in-law would cut short teatime to go home and watch The Bill in the comfort of her own lounge room, and now I am going to have to endure my mother-in-law for longer, God love her, because there is no excuse to go home anymore.

The Bill served as a starting point for many English actors, as Neighbours and Home and Away do for Australians. However, for an Australian to portray a character in this drama was a rare yet significant move, and it is worth mentioning here one Australian actor, City Homicide’s Daniel MacPherson. The axing of The Bill is the final nail in the coffin for shows which do not have to run off short, quick story-lines to grab the audience’s attention. Two one-hour episodes per week was a sufficient amount of time to watch the Sun Hill crew work their way through a kidnapping, a murder or a drug charge in the Canley borough operational command unit in east London. Had they been solved in the mere half-hour that most dramas are allowed today, the depth of story would be lost.

Saying goodbye to The Bill for many Australians was like saying goodbye to an old friend. It was a poignant television show which became the mother of all police dramas, both Australian and English, that have branched from its concept. It seems that none that tried following in its footsteps did quite as well. Twenty-seven years for one show is no mean feat. I would like to see if any of the reality TV shows that we have to endure today will do nearly half as well.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate the members for Moreton and Riverina for their contributions. To be able to talk about the arts is a fantastic thing. We do not do enough of it in this parliament. I say to the Member for Moreton, to be criticised by some journalist for appearing to be flippant with this motion totally misses the point. I love the arts. I think if I had my life again, if I had enough talent, I would devote it to the arts. I might not be very rich in terms of money but I would certainly be very rich in terms of the spirit. In fact, I am currently directing my 16th musical, and I look forward to that going on in budget week whilst trying to match all the other responsibilities I have.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Tasmanian Regional Arts. It plays an important role in supporting both regional and community based arts practices in my home state of Tasmania. The organisation is unique in that it is the only state-wide arts service organisation in Australia funded by the Australian government’s Australia Council that is located in a regional centre—indeed, in the historic township of Latrobe, in my electorate of Braddon.

As a membership driven organisation, Tasmanian Regional Arts aims to excite and inspire regional communities through its work. The Tasmanian Regional Arts program of activities in 2011 is significant for what it does with limited resources. For example, the organisation provides information and advocacy support services; delivers an access and touring program to a wide variety of non-managed community run venues throughout Tassie; provides information and community arts support staff in our three major locations throughout Tasmania; and administers the important Commonwealth Regional Arts Fund.

In 2010 TRA brilliantly proved it could also produce significant arts products when it staged the seventh Regional Arts Australia national conference in Launceston. This conference, the largest arts conference in Australia, also played host to the Junction Arts Festival, where more than 47 major exhibitions, performances and activities engaged the host community and visitor alike and provided an economic boost of nearly $3 million to Tasmania’s regional economy.

Tasmanian Regional Arts intends to continue to develop on the Junction 2010 legacy in the state’s north through future participatory arts festivals of the highest calibre. Tasmanian Regional Arts plays a key role in the delivery of Commonwealth support to the regions through its management of the Regional Arts Fund. Indeed, this program supports local and regional artists to access resources through a three-tiered program of assistance that is both relevant and cost-effective in its delivery. I have been advised through representations from Tasmania Regional Arts that through its national agency, Regional Arts Australia, the organisation believes the current delivery mechanisms for the fund through the state agencies is a preferred delivery model for the fund and that the Regional Arts Fund, along with other programs such as Playing Australia and Festivals Australia continue to be delivered under current arrangements.

Tasmanian Regional Arts recognises the need to diversify and expand its income and revenue streams in response to the limitations facing all levels of government in supporting the arts. I strongly commend TRA for its success in securing a broad range of state and local government partnerships, as well as significant philanthropic support and sponsorship for its program of activities. Through the delivery of initiatives such as the Regional Arts Fund, ongoing festival and event developments, a strong and creative touring program and the provision of the regional arts development offices, Tasmanian Regional Arts has played and continues to play a significant role in arts and cultural development across my state. I thank TRA for the excellent work it does on what is a limited budget.

Finally, I would like to thank all of those artists in Australia who provide entertainment and their skills for us. Indeed, they are a conscience and a mirror of what makes Australia what it is. I would like to thank in particular all those artists who live in regional Australia and provide their services and their skills to those of us in regional Australia. I know regional Australia is very much like where I live: very talented people enjoying their lifestyle and supporting their communities. We, as the government, should do all we can to support them and to make their job a lot easier. I thank them for their contribution.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to take this opportunity to speak on a subject that I am extremely passionate about—that is, the promotion of the arts. It takes me back to my childhood days, in particular some of the first television shows that I recall on Australian television. I remember a small town community production, and the television show was called Bellbird. It was about a small town community and nothing much happened in Bellbird. It was a show about nothing but it captured the minds and the souls of everyone here in—do I keep going?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You keep going. The member for Wannon has missed his call and will not get an opportunity to speak. The member for Dawson has the call.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wright.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a lesson for us all!

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recall back in my youth watching the Australian production of Bellbird. I recall fondly that we used to use the characters as role models. Some of the characters elude my mind now, but I remember watching the show in black and white, before colour TV came out, with anticipation. Later on, as we step forward probably 10 to 15 years—and I do not know what category this show would fall into, but it was also another Australian production and one of the leaders of its time in variety or quiz shows—I take your minds to Blankety Blanks, a panel show of Australian celebrities hosted by a number of artists—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. Graham Kennedy and Ugly Dave Gray—it takes my mind to a spot where Ugly Dave Gray would often hold a large Cuban cigar in his mouth while at production, a far cry from the television that we watch today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I share with you also with reference to my own family and person. I have a 14-year-old daughter, and sometimes I become disillusioned with Australian television and, in particular, international television, where sometimes it is difficult after 7.30 of an evening to find a show where someone is not getting shot or murdered. Sometimes you cannot find a television show where someone is not being cut up on an operating table, if that is not your thing. Whilst we do have some good Australian dramas—with reference to operating, RPA is an Australian one, and I think that one goes all right—

Honourable Member:

The Young Doctors.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Young Doctors is another good one from many years ago, and Matron Sloane played the role extremely well.

With reference to the promotion of the arts here in Australia, not only do we have television but we also have some of the classics of screen and theatre. Who in this generation does not remember or has not seen the production of Mad Max? It is the film that launched the career of Mel Gibson.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a fine actor!

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A fine actor, indeed so. He has launched his career onto the international stage, on which he has done Australia extremely proud in some of his productions. Some of his personal attributes off screen have not been too much, but when he is doing good things he is Australian and when he is playing up he is—

Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

American.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

American, absolutely! Again with reference to the arts, I want to support some of the more subdued films that are the old classics of Australia, such as Picnic at Hanging Rock. It was one of the first productions that gave us the capacity to see inland Australia and regional Australia.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gallipoli.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gallipoli was one of the all-time greats, along with Breaker Morant.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Priscilla!

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I have time to tell you a quick story about Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Steven Ciobo nominated that one.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As far as the arts go, with reference to the wonderful crews and everything that are a part of this industry, in 2000 there was the Year of the Outback muster from Birdsville down to Marree. The catering team that worked on that drover’s camp worked out of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’s bus. It is a catering bus now, and it worked on the McLeod’s Daughters set in South Australia. It is a catering bus that now works in the Australian film industry promoting the arts. Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you very much for your indulgence—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wright for his entertainment this evening! The time allocated for the debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.