Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts. Australia's creative and cultural sector contributes $112 billion to the Australian economy every year. Will the minister please update the House on what the Morrison government is doing to protect Australians in this industry from the economic effects of the pandemic, including through the extension of its JobKeeper program?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for his question. He's got a strong commitment to our cultural and creative sector, which, as he rightly says, generates $112 billion of economic activity each year. For everybody who cares about this sector, it's been troubling to see the impact of COVID, with performances cancelled, venues closed, artists losing their gigs. That's why our government moved quickly to respond, through JobKeeper and JobSeeker, providing support for those in the sector unable to work.

While we moved quickly, sadly the shadow minister was out there deliberately spreading fear and uncertainty in the sector, making the completely factually incorrect claim that JobKeeper was not well suited to the arts sector. Well, let's have a look at the facts. Ninety per cent of people who work in the cultural and creative sector are in employment arrangements which make them eligible for JobKeeper. There are around 40,000 people in what the ABS calls the performing and creative arts subsector, and, in the first month of JobKeeper, around two-thirds of the people in that subsector received JobKeeper. In fact, to date JobKeeper has delivered $336 million to people in this sector, so the shadow minister was precisely and completely wrong.

But, not content with spreading fear, what did this repeated visitor to Eddie Obeid's ski lodge do? He also moved a second reading amendment to the government's bill to deliver $130 billion of support to COVID affected Australians. He claimed, misleadingly, that this would have delivered more support to the arts sector. The facts are that, if his amendment had passed, it would have ended the entire bill; there would have been no support for any Australians, including those in the arts sector. Now we've had a serious of false claims from the shadow minister. He claimed there was no support for the arts for 100 days. That was wrong. Around $100 million flowed into the creative and performing arts subsector in April, through JobKeeper and through cash flow payments. And, of course, just a few weeks ago we announced our $250 million JobMaker plan for the cultural and creative sector. Labor were running out of new material by that point. The best they could do was claim that it didn't support the visual arts. I'll tell you what: they were wrong on that as well.

As we come out of COVID, our cultural and creative sector has a vital role to play in lifting our spirits and telling our stories. Our side of the parliament has been delivering unprecedented support to the arts sector. Labor has just been trying to scare them.