Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Macnamara, one in 10 people works in the creative sector. It is without doubt that Macnamara is the arts capital of Australia.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I accept that there are a few interjections, but I stand by my comment. Inside the arts capital of Australia lies the Espy, at the back of which is the Gershwin Room, one of the nation's best live music venues. Packing out the Gershwin Room were people from across the creative sector in this country, from our local and independent theatre companies to our major institutions. They were joined by the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Arts as well as Missy Higgins; the amazing Deborah Cheetham, who was cruelly on before me and was a hard act to follow; and so many other talented people performing.

The key part of that morning was announcing Revive, our national cultural policy, which is going to do a few really key things. One is to restore what was previously cut or taken out of the Australia Council. Decisions about who funds the arts will be taken away from government and done independently. We're going to create Music Australia, under the umbrella of Creative Australia, as well as Writers Australia. It's all about making sure that we support Australian stories and Australian jobs in our creative sector.

It was a great morning, and I'm really proud of our artists.