Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) as a nation we have some of the world’s best artists, performers and administrators of the arts;

(b) the recently held Regional Arts Australia Summit in Kalgoorlie-Boulder was a great success;

(c) the Government:

  (i) is a strong supporter of the Arts in Australia and recognises the importance art plays in our regional communities; and

  (ii) continues to make national exhibitions and performing arts companies accessible to regional Australia; and

  (iii) encourages our national institutions and performing arts companies to have a substantial presence in our regional communities; and

(2) recognises The Regional Arts Fund provides important funding towards high quality arts projects which leads to strong community engagement.

One of the huge gifts you get when you are an auctioneer is the exposure to things which you would normally not have been in contact with, from heavy machinery to fine bone china. You get an appreciation for what makes up this world, so it is with this role in parliament. The things to which we are exposed, should we accept the invitation, truly expand our horizons and open our minds, so it is with the arts. Being a regional MP, it is also gratifying to know that you do not have to travel to Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne to gain an appreciation for the arts in this country.

I was challenged by the Minister for Arts, Senator the Hon. George Brandis, to represent my city and region at last year's regional arts conference in Kalgoorlie. Kalgoorlie is a long way from Townsville, but it was a great trip. To know and understand that my city is not alone in pushing the arts from a regional perspective was an eye-opener. There are dynamic people all over this country pushing an inclusive arts agenda from a regional position. To meet and chat with people from organisations such as the Australia Council and other major bodies to discuss my city's presence in the arts landscape was worth the trip.

Minister Brandis was also asked the role of the councils in the arts landscape. He said you first have to understand the nature of local government in each state. My state of Queensland has larger, broader based regional style councils. This contrasts with states like New South Wales and Victoria, which have smaller, more internally focused councils. Neither is right nor wrong but it does show what a minister must consider when looking at arts funding and why there will never be a one-size-fits-all solution.

I am proud to stand beside my minister, who was able to ensure that the regional arts funding was quarantined in my government's two budgets. In my city of Townsville, the arts enjoy the strong backing of our mayor, Jenny Hill, a dynamic council team headed by Jeff Jimmieson and a local lead councillor, Suzanne Blom.

Queensland's Perc Tucker Regional Gallery regularly presents major exhibitions such as the famous Lego exhibition, Brick by Brick. This show saw 102,320 people, many from outside Townsville, come to see it. It is Australia's most visited regional gallery and we are expecting over 120,000 people to attend this year's Strand Ephemera—a collection of original outdoor artworks which will line our iconic shoreline. Gallery CEO, Shane Fitzgerald, is entrepreneurial in his outlook and continues to push for more space and better, bigger and more brilliant shows with an international look from a regional perspective.

We are home to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. This festival, headed by Sue Hackett, is entering its 25th year. Artistic director, Piers Lane, brings world-class artists to Townsville each year. They conduct tutorials for our children and young musicians. They show that you can love music and it will love you back. They take music from the concert halls to the beaches of Magnetic Island and Palm Island, from Townsville schools to underground mine shafts in Mount Isa. From the cello to the didgeridoo, from the Steinway to the piano accordion, from the violin to the wooden box, the program is inclusive and hugely entertaining.

Opera Queensland brings it productions to Townsville and enlists locals with no musical experience in their shows. They do this all over the state because they have a great product and fantastic audiences, and they want to share. Dance North, Umbrella Studio, North Queensland theatrical groups, the Barrier Reef Symphony Orchestra and the 1RAR band all form part of our varied arts landscape. All are supported by our federal government in one form or another, which understands the importance of participation and the need to take these things from the Opera House and put them in the shire halls.

Townsville is a great city but it is more than just a port, a defence base and a massively important regional home for sporting teams and V8 car races. We are a thriving and expanding arts hub for Northern Australia. We have an important role to play, not just in regional Australia but in the fabric of our entire country and our entire society. This government supports places like Townsville because we know that Australia is more than just Sydney and Melbourne. We are more than just capital cities. We are a government for all of Australia and the arts are an amazing and hugely important part of that. Our CBD is going through a redevelopment and our priority development areas are going in that. We have the Civic Theatre being redeveloped and plans in that space. The arts will have a major part in the redevelopment of our CBD. We know we are not going to get another football team, another V8 car race or another basketball franchise. What we will be able to do is expand our arts centre, and our educational, arts and cultural tourism to appreciate those sorts of people and bring those people to our town. That is what we as a country must do. We must embrace it. I thank the House.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

An honourable member: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion because it provides me and other speakers from the Labor side the opportunity to reject the claim that this government is a strong supporter of the arts and is a supporter of regional arts in particular; it is not. This is a government that came to office with no policy for the arts, certainly no written policy.

Senator Brandis has claimed that last year's train wreck of a budget was good for the arts. This is another utterly untrue claim by a government that has made untrue claims its hallmark. The arts were slashed by over $100 million in last year's budget. And now Senator Brandis claims that this year's budget has no cuts of any substance for the arts—utterly untrue again.

To start with, this year's budget—this fraud and hoax of a budget—entrenches the cuts of last year. The Abbott government has suddenly forgotten all about the budget emergency it has been claiming for years and apparently has money to splash around—but not for the arts. This year's budget imposes cuts of a further $13 million to the arts through supposed efficiencies to arts and cultural programs run by the Ministry, the Australia Council and Screen Australia. These cuts will cause enormous disruption for hundred of small to medium arts organisations around the country in regional towns and cities.

But, serious as these new cuts are, compounding last year's, what is of much greater concern is that Senator Brandis has ripped $105 million from the Australia Council and placed it under his personal control. This will cause even more disruption to arts activities across the country. Senator Brandis says he wants to use this money to set up a so-called national program for excellence in the arts within his own ministry. Senator Brandis seems to fancy himself as Australia's arts supremo. He seems to think he can spot excellence in the arts, while the Australia Council—an independent body of some of Australia's most successful and visionary artists—cannot.

It has long been accepted in this country that arts funding decisions should be free of political interference. This is in part because artists will sometimes of critical of government. They should not be forced to produce art that meets with the approval of the government of the day. That is why the Whitlam government established the Australia Council as an independent statutory body with robust peer review and merit assessment procedures to make arts funding decisions at arms length from the government of the day. But Senator Brandis thinks he knows better and decided that he will be responsible for arts funding decisions for over $25 million each year.

Whatever claims Senator Brandis makes about not being the assessor, the fact is that decisions about who gets funded and who does not will be made within his department. As minister, he will be responsible for those decisions. Senator Brandis has still not explained who will be funded or on what terms or according to what criteria. The potential for political influence on arts funding is obvious. Because we know the vagaries of political favour and of tacit or explicit threats to funding, it will have a chilling effect on criticism of the government. The removal of $105 million from the Australia Council has already had a direct and destructive impact.

The Australia Council advised last week that the six-year funding of arts organisations, which has been worked on for many months, will now not proceed, and the Australia Council's June funding round has been cancelled. Senator Brandis's new arts slush fund will require administrative staffing and support—further reducing the funds available for artists. The Abbott government is duplicating functions already performed by the Australia Council. This is red tape expansion from a government that claims to want to reduce red tape.

Far from being a friend of the arts, it has taken Senator Brandis less than two years in his job to slash arts funding and to trash the basic principle that arts in our nation should be free from political interference. Labor will resist this disgraceful, wasteful and divisive move by Senator Brandis to assert political control over the arts. In government, we will revisit all of these decisions made by Senator Brandis and the Abbott government. We will ensure that independence as a basic principle is maintained in arts funding in this country.

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to second the motion moved by the member for Herbert. The member is right: as a nation we do have some of the world's best artists, performers and administrators of the arts. This was no more obvious than at the 2014 Regional Arts Summit held in Kalgoorlie-Boulder from 16 to 19 October last year. As the summit was held in my electorate, I was able to attend and welcome Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts, Senator the Hon. George Brandis, to open the event. The Regional Arts Summit is a biennial event with a 16-year history, starting in 1998 with the inaugural national conference in Mount Gambier in South Australia. The nine conferences since have travelled far and wide, from Launceston to Alice Springs. The event showcases the vibrant culture across regional Australia. It is distinguished by the creative leaders who attend and is a trusting environment for networking, collaboration and model sharing between artists, community volunteers, arts and cultural workers, community development managers and cultural leaders. Twice the national event has been held in WA—luckily for me, both times in my electorate. I think it is fair to say that this shows that O'Connor has a very strong arts and cultural environment.

In 2000, the second national conference was held in Esperance under the title 'Making Waves'. It was a resounding success and, since then, the biennial event has grown bigger and better. Last year's Regional Arts Australia Summit in Kalgoorlie-Boulder offered delegates a chance to experience the desert life through stimulating contact, networking, artistic programs and inspiring talks. Artistic director Ben Fox curated a creative voyage featuring international keynote speakers, outstanding arts, strategic leadership discussions, peer learning, open spaces and masterclasses. Across the summit's four days, there were over 40 events attended by 574 delegates from across Australian, resulting in over 500 media articles being published. This was not just some small arts event in the middle of Australia; this was one of the nation's foremost cultural conferences being held in a culturally diverse, ever-changing community. The event was attended not only by the federal Minister for the Arts but also by the Western Australian Minister for Culture and the Arts, the Hon. John Day, and by the US Consul-General, Cynthia Griffin.

The Regional Arts Australia Summit was also a resounding success in terms of its economic impact. It is estimated that the economic impact from the 2014 summit in Kalgoorlie-Boulder was over $2 million. While in attendance, I personally enjoyed the forum, 'On the Edge of Something Big', with Senator Brandis; Opera Queensland's Lindy Hume; the MONA FOMA curator, Brian Ritchie; and Genevieve Grieves, a lecturer in the Australian Indigenous Studies program at the University of Melbourne. I enjoyed the open and frank debate that was not limited to making art but included discussions on freedom of speech, freedom of artistic expression, censorship of opinions, how art can be part of healing and how art is part of our culture. I was impressed that an arts forum was so diverse.

During the event, the Hon. George Brandis announced that a further $187,000 would be invested in regional Western Australian arts projects through the Australian government's Regional Arts Fund. Ten arts and cultural projects will be supported by the fund and delivered in locations across the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne, Peel, Goldfields-Esperance, Great Southern and South West regions. The Regional Arts Fund is an Australian government program supporting sustainable cultural development in communities across regional and remote Australia. It has an emphasis on youth and on disadvantaged, remote and Indigenous communities. The funding is targeted at activities that will have long-term cultural, economic and social benefits for individuals and communities.

Also announced were five regional artistic development fellowships aimed at helping the fellows develop professional skills and gain experience in the national and international arts landscape. This is a tremendous opportunity for regional artists to work in other regions or cities—or even overseas—alongside experienced artists. Both funding rounds are now closed and I look forward to the announcement of successful applicants.

Currently open for application are the Australia Council of the Arts scholarships. The scholarships provide $150,000 over the next three years for high-performing regional arts leaders to participate in the Australian Rural Leadership program. The scholarships will allow high-performing arts administrators or managers working in regional Australia to participate in the Australian Rural Leadership program to develop their management skills and build networks with other regional leaders. I encourage arts leaders in O'Connor to apply.

In conclusion, I have very strong views about making sure our regional and rural residents are not disadvantaged by where they live. Part of that is making sure they have great access to the arts.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and in particular to highlight this government's track record when it comes to the arts. I completely disagree with the statement that says:

… the Government … is a strong supporter of the Arts in Australia and recognises the importance art plays in our regional communities.

If the government were serious about regional arts, it would not be cutting vital funding to the Australia Council of the Arts. I will take a moment to read an email I received from one of the current recipients of funding from the Australia Council of the Arts. It is from the director of the Castlemaine State Festival and was sent on Friday. It highlights the urgency of this issue and the direct impact these cuts are having on my local community. The email from the director of the Castlemaine State Festival reads:

I rang the Australia Council today to ask if the Australia Council's Regional Festivals Fund … was impacted by S.B's—

Senator Brandis's—

announcement.

As you may recall the CSF—

the Castlemaine State Festival—

last year received confirmation of 6 years of funding for 3 Festivals (2015. 2017 and 2019) and following a phone conversation I had today with Oz Council staff, they could not advise me if this commitment was to be withdrawn.

This is the impact that the government's budget last week has had on regional arts and on a significant festival in my electorate that is not only a celebration of the arts but a major economic driver in the local community. Every single festival generates lots of economic activity in the community of Castlemaine. This is directly impacted because of the decision this government is making. The email goes on:

You will no doubt both be aware how extremely concerning this news is for the independent arts sector and regional organisations. While I do not yet know the answer about future funding commitments made to the Castlemaine State Festival, a loss of funding will have significant negative implications for the organisation and associated regional artists and communities.

This is the insecurity that this government has made by cutting funding to the Australia Council for the Arts, the independent body where peers decide the arts projects to receive funding. Instead the government has set up its own little group to decide what it believes is best when it comes to the arts.

Another organisation directly impacted in my electorate because of this decision is Punctum, which is a local independent small to medium professional enterprise of artists. They run their live arts series. I met last week with Jude Anderson, who is the artistic director of this organisation. Her comments and concerns were also quite alarming. Founded in 2004, Punctum is an artist-led live arts organisation based in Castlemaine. It ensures that local artists receive a decent income for their art. Along with its residential program, Punctum creates its own small to large performances in collaboration with local artists and partner organisations in regional Victoria. In 2011 Punctum was funded as a cultural leader in live arts through the Australia Council's cultural leadership initiative, another program at risk. In 2012 Punctum was cited as a Regional Arts Victoria key producer and noted as being one of two regionally based 'icon' arts organisations. Are these not the organisations that we want to be receiving support and funding? Instead, their entire future has now been thrown into jeopardy. Rather than being allocated funding because they have been judged by their peers as being the appropriate body to fund, they now have to hope that Senator George Brandis likes them today so that they receive funding.

Young and emerging artists will be the most impacted by this politically motivated decision by the Abbott government to slash funding to the Australia Council for the Arts. The Australia Council has announced that it would not proceed with its next round of funding, and I have highlighted two of the local organisations in the Bendigo area of regional Australia that will be at risk. This announcement reveals how hollow is the claim by the minister about his commitment to regional arts, and that is why I find this motion not only frustrating but showing a serious lack of judgement in how serious this government is about regional arts. I call on the government to reverse its decision for the Australia Council for the Arts.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Although I am somewhat surprised that the government has put this motion forward today, after the very heavy criticism it has received from the arts community over the last fortnight, I am always happy to champion Australian artists, performers and arts administrators. As mentioned in the terms of the motion, we are home to some of the world's best artists. Labor has no argument with the government on that fact. My own electorate of Newcastle has borne some of Australia's most renowned artists and produces more artists per capita than any other city or region in this nation.

We warmly embrace the arts as part of our daily practice. We are home to one of Australia's oldest and most distinguished literary prizes, the Newcastle Poetry Prize, which this year is celebrating its 34th anniversary. We host the Newcastle Writers Festival, the National Young Writers Festival, the now annual Hit the Bricks street art festival and the This is Not Art festival, or TiNA, contemporary arts festival.

Also of note are our urban renewal programs and art spaces that activate public places through creative arts. The Lock-Up, which is located in one of Newcastle's most significant heritage buildings, the former Newcastle police station, is now a multidisciplinary contemporary art space and inner-city hub for creative thinking and doing. Their renowned artist-in-residence program is an important and unique part of The Lock-Up's creative programs. This weekend The Lock-Up in collaboration with local creative agency Headjam won Museum Australia's multimedia and publication design award for their innovative website and received a high commendation for their poster design.

Perhaps most noteworthy of our city's contemporary art and cultural programs is Renew Newcastle. It is the brainchild of innovator Marcus Westbury and has been ably carried out since its inception by former general manager Marni Jackson and current general manager Christopher Saunders, with guidance from the remarkable chair Rod Smith. Renew Newcastle has in fact become a national renew movement, with hundreds of renew projects across Australia in major cities and regions alike. The renew model focuses on urban renewal and brokers access to vacant buildings for artisans and inspiring young businesses to make a start and showcase their talents and ideas.

Worth noting is a recent project that benefitted from the first round of Renew Newcastle leases. Filmmaker Stuart McBratney has just completed his second feature film Pop-Up. Eighty per cent of the cinematography was filmed locally in Newcastle. It will have its debut screening in Newcastle in August. This is one of Renew Newcastle's many success stories.

In my opening remarks I mentioned my surprise at this motion brought forward by the government today in light of their recently announced cuts to the arts. It is worth recalling that in this year's budget $104.8 million was moved from the independent national peer-reviewed funding body, the Australia Council, and redirected to the newly created National Program for Excellence in the Arts. Grants will now be decided at the discretion of the arts minister of the day. In addition, the government proposes cuts—an additional $3.7 million from Screen Australia, almost $4 million from various national galleries and museums, $5.2 million from the Australia Council for Creative Partnerships Australia, and $7.3 million in efficiency dividends from the sector. Make no mistake, the government has made clear where those dividends are to come from—from the programs that sponsor young emerging artists in Australia and in regional Australia in particular.

An open letter to the Minister for the Arts, signed by almost 9,000 Australian artists, performers and administrators, outlines the damage that this budget will have on our nation and our arts community. It states:

This Budget is an enormous blow to the arts community in Australia. It will impoverish Australian culture and society. It will mean loss of livelihood for many arts workers. It will mean many important artworks—works that would inform national debate, expanding the possibilities of this country and its citizens—will simply never be made. … Artists are workers and taxpayers, and a vital part of the economy—

and our regional economies in particular. These cuts to Australia Council funding will directly affect new and emerging artists and small organisations in particular. Perhaps it is worth this government reminding itself of the two principles of responsible arts funding: the arms-length principle and the peer review principle. Most importantly, the arms-length principle, like the Australia Council, allows for better long-term policy development and planning beyond election cycles— (Time expired)

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

I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Herbert that in part states:

… as a nation we have some of the world’s best artists, performers and administrators of the arts …

Obviously I support that part of the motion 100 per cent. I also recognise, since the member for Herbert is here, the wonderful work that the ABC does in supporting the arts, both in Townsville and around Australia. So I support that part of the member for Herbert's motion. In fact, last week and over the weekend we saw a wonderful display of Australia's emerging artistic talents when we saw over 300 dancers use their talents to protest Arts Minister George Brandis's savage cuts to arts funding bodies and the Australia Council, an independent, at arm's length entity, as other speakers have noted.

Across Australia, the arts community staged protests and there were flash mobs in Melbourne, saying, 'Why would Senator Brandis cut $110 million from the Australia Council? These cuts are already affecting young and emerging artists, with the Australia Council announcing last week that they will not proceed with the next round of arts funding grants. They have already had to scrap completely or suspend programs that were targeted at small- to medium-sized arts companies, and young artists.

Senator Brandis has moved most of the funding for the arts to a new body, to be run Soviet style by his own department. Essentially, Senator Brandis will have ultimate control over what art deserves to be funded and what does not. Now, artistic dissent will require ministerial approval—a sad day that we did not see even in the darkest days of the Soviet Union. Senator Brandis will be making decisions with no published criteria, no peer review system and without any proper justification. The framework is the artistic fear and favour according to 'Bookshelves' Brandis.

The Australia Council is an independent body, with independent experts, who make informed decisions about funding, at arm's length from meddlesome politicians. One of my constituents, John from Annerley, emailed me on Friday to inform me of the impact these cuts will have personally on his son. John's son, and his business partner, started a theatre company nine years ago. It has been very successful. They present theatre work for children aged 2 to 5, promoting friendship and resilience. They have travelled to entertain and inform children throughout Australia, and to Korea and India. This year they have been invited back to Korea and will also be going to Iran. They are not just going to Paris or Vienna, they are actually going to engage with Asia.

The making of this artistic program and its international success was only possible because of four separate grants from the Australia Council. Three of those grants were national and international market development grants—grants connected to Australia's interests in Asia. Due to the cuts by Senator Brandis, the so-called arts minister, these project funds are now not available from the Australia Council.

They say the funds that were awarded through a 'transparent and bipartisan process' are now to be moved to an excellence fund controlled by Senator Brandis, but we do not know his definition of excellence. Maybe literature will have the inside running—certainly, 'Bookshelves' Brandis literally likes taxpayer dollars supporting his reading interests.

But back to John from Annerley. He explained, 'Having just spent 10 years working to understand, navigate and access resources from the complex structures that support arts and culture, to be able to access resources to employ the best artists to make the best possible art, it is frustrating to see these structures being dismantled.'

One of the programs that has already been hit by Senator Brandis's wrecking ball is the Creative Young Stars program. This was a program initiated by Labor when in government, a program where all 150 MPs were able to provide grassroots assistance to emerging local artists. This program, that went equally to all 150 MPs, was recently described by Senator Brandis as 'political interference in arts funding'. Political interference in arts funding when it went to every single MP? This is not only bipartisan, it is sesquicentennial-partisan—every MP was involved in it.

I met with a constituent at a street stall out in front of the Moorooka Woolworths on the weekend who had benefited from that program. He is a rap artist who is about to launch his third album and he was so grateful for the help from that program because it gave him the start he needed. That constituent's music may not be what the arts minister describes as excellent, but it is what Australia needs. I condemn senator Brandis for taking control of arts funding. (Time expired)

Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I use this opportunity to show an example of a great federal arts fund grant in Gilmore. On May 8, I looked in my diary and saw that I was to attend a microgallery opening in Junction Street, Nowra. As a painter myself, my curiosity was immediately engaged—what on earth is a microgallery?

This gallery is designed to show art in small and creative ways and was one of 80 regional art and cultural projects that received support through round 2 of the Australian government's Regional Arts Fund. The fund is set up to support sustainable cultural development in regional and remote Australia. The program provides funding for a mix of quick resource grants and community grants for art projects, professional development of artists and art workers and community capacity building projects. The microgallery initiative certainly did all of that in Nowra. The aim of the vent was to blur the line between fine arts and street art, changing the way we see our world. The streets and laneways of Nowra's CBD came to life with the work of 20 local artists and they were joined by 15 international artists, including a US based photographer, a Finnish street provocateur and a Paris cartoonist. Micro Galleries is an international art project with the goal of bringing art in many forms to the community to demonstrate that art is for everyone, breaking out of the set spaces and becoming part of the community directly.

Some of the themes were on the environment, like the collection of junk mail that was converted to a constant ribbon of waste paper to be used as bean bag fill, or a curious installation aimed to change someone's day for the better. There were temporary boards, live performances, video presentations and some permanent installations. The yellow painted piano just near my office is eye-catching and completely spontaneous. It encouraged some to play a tune or two. Nowra is the first Australian city to host Micro Galleries. Other recent appearances were in Cape Town and Hong Kong. The local artistic director, Kat Roma Greer, who grew up in the Illawarra, has spent a lot of time in Shoalhaven, including a recent stay as an artist in residence in Bundanon. Kat explained how Nowra was selected as the first Australian location. She says that during her residency at Bundanon she spent time in Nowra and was blown away not only by the amazing art community that worked across the Shoalhaven, but also the beautiful buildings, cool little laneways and the cafes and shops in and around the CBD, as well as the initiative at Nowra Alive kicking off. She just felt that Nowra was the perfect fit for Australia's first microgallery—a seemingly unassuming town with lots to offer. One of the other facilitators for the project was Bonnie Greene. She was the artistic producer, apart from being a practicing artist herself, she also has a close connection to Bundanon through her arts administration work. It is amazing how the Bundanon Trust workshops and residencies act as a catalyst in foretelling the vision and legacy of Arthur Boyd.

Zina Churchill makes a trifecta of art advocacy for this event. She believes her art form is the process of removing the jargon and fluff around marketing. Clearly her 20-plus years in this industry was a great part of this artistic endeavour. The Regional Arts Fund was a source of much needed dollars to pursue this concept. I suspect that Zina may be an exhibitor by herself later, as she is a photographer. A vacant shop was used as a pop-up exhibition space for a live performance or two, a seminar venue and how art can be part of anyone's life. It was explained to me that Micro Galleries aim to change the way the community views the significance and possibilities presented by street art, and also to show those who are interested in street art, that they can perhaps express themselves in more interesting ways.

Importantly the project brought together diverse groups in our community: generational, cultural and socioeconomic. It all seems to bring together different segments of the community such as business, residents, council and creating industries, all working together for free public art. This initiative demonstrates how affective art can be in bringing life, creativity and enthusiasm to a business center that has elements of despair, empty shops and concerns about retail trading. Microgalleries do this by driving business to the local community, particularly the cafes and restaurants, and the local boutiques shops, as participants wander through the CBD viewing the works. Another aim was to showcase the air deco buildings of Nowra to generate future interests and a possible return visit.

Creating this precinct activation and regeneration reframes the perceptions of street art and how it can impact on a community. It also helps to establish small business partnerships, possibly we can have another microgallery in 2016. You have to admit, it is pretty curious when you see people standing by the curb side, all looking up at the sky. You ask why. Because the artist wrote a sign on the footpath in three separate words. "Loo Kup Now". So people can experience the ever changing skyscape. The funding for this project was exceptionally well spent, congratulations to all the participants, both artists and those looking at their work.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I would just like to speak again about the need for a regional focus on the arts. As I said, when we went to Kalgoorlie it was just fantastic. Patricia O'Callaghan from Townsville Enterprises and I went across to Kalgoorlie to represent Townsville. It was fantastic to see every region in Australia participating in this conference and the ability for each local region to be able to be in that space and be passionate about their arts scene.

I have to speak with a partisan voice when I come to this, because I do love my city and I love what we do in this space. There is Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and the way they present a bank building as a fantastic art gallery. We need to be able to redevelop that. We have Umbrella Studio, which does a fantastic job in print making and Aboriginal art, developing those talents and working in conjunction with James Cook University in that space.

We have a great society. If you look at the larger regional centres in Australia they are a microcosm of Australia. Sure, there will be gaps in the system, but there are people in there who are willing to make it work. There are schools in my city which have fantastic music programs, such as Belgian Gardens State School, which works into Pimlico State High School and Kirwan State High School. These are schools of excellence when it comes to their music programs. They make sure that music and art are an intrinsic part of the school curriculum.

It can be understood that if you are good at any of the arts then you can prosper in no matter what field or skill there is. The number of doctors, dentists and highly professional people who play a musical instrument have been able to put themselves in that space. They have a basic understanding of maths and then understand that music is so fantastic for mathematics. You have to be able to count and you have to be able to keep time. That is what music does; you have to be able to work outside your own brain to work and to be creative in that space. It is something that we should foster in this country.

My wife is an early childhood teacher. While she understands the need for the national curriculum, she does believe that it is becoming overcrowded. She does not believe that kids today should have to be able to work through geography and those sorts of things. It is a personal philosophy of hers. Other educators who I know say, 'You can still do the basics of English and mathematics; no matter which subject you are speaking of it is important that we do support the arts.' It is important that we do have an artistic perspective for our country, and especially for our regions.

It is incredibly important for regional Australia that we are able to protect that space. I thank the House.

Debate adjourned.