Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With this legislation, we will take a major stride in the implementation of Australia's new National Cultural Policy—Revive. The modernisation, strengthening, and expansion of the Australia Council for the Arts is the centrepiece of Revive. For more than five decades, the Australia Council has supported creativity across the continent. It's funded the creation of countless works of music, visual arts, dance, theatre, literature and other art forms. It's shared Australian creativity with the world. It's nurtured the careers of generations of artists and arts workers. It's given Australians access to cultural experiences that have moved us, entertained us and changed how we see the world and how the world sees us. It is the federal government's principal channel of support for creative endeavour. It's crucial to the health of the arts ecology that we have an Australia Council that is fit for the future, properly funded and given the mandate that it needs to effectively serve the arts. The Creative Australia Bill 2023 and other legislation are the second piece to implement the government's National Cultural Policy and transform the Australia Council for the Arts into Creative Australia.

Through the legislation, two important new bodies, Music Australia and Creative Workplaces, will be established, and they will be accountable to Creative Australia. Legislation to establish the First Nations body will be introduced next year and legislation for Writers Australia the following year. Through these reforms, public, philanthropic and commercial support for the arts will be brought within the one agency for the first time.

The reforms set out in this legislation are complemented by a significant new investment of $199 million in Creative Australia over four years. Those opposite have said that this investment will do little to support artists, Creative Australia will ensure that the vast majority of this investment will go to support artists. Its track record on this speaks for itself. Last financial year, the Australia Council invested 95 per cent of its budget in the sector, with just the remainder spent on overheads and operational costs.

The objectives of the National Cultural Policy that were delivered in January of this year arose from the arts community itself. The policy was not imposed by the government. It's based on extensive consultation with the arts community. The calls to establish the new bodies defined in this legislation came through powerfully in the consultations and submissions in the development of the National Cultural Policy, and I was very privileged to support the Minister for the Arts by conducting many of these consultations throughout the country.

This legislation also builds on many of the things I learned back in previous parliaments, in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts inquiries into the sustainability of the music industry and the film and television industry. I've learnt them from my highly creative constituents in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, not to mention the lived experience of having children and many of their friends working in the arts sector.

Let's talk about Music Australia. The sector told us that there was a need for a single body responsible for supporting, promoting and developing markets for Australian contemporary music. They told us that the sector needs a single table to meet around for representatives to share ideas, concerns and aspirations. They told us that the sector needs targeted support to provide industry professionals, bands and artists with more opportunities to learn and to develop their skills. This is what Music Australia will do. Its work will be backed by a significant new investment of $69 million over four years. Music Australia will implement a number of the initiatives specified in Revive. It will develop new co-investment agreements with states, territories and industry to develop national sectorwide priorities. It will support industry professionals to learn business and management skills. It will provide ongoing support for Sounds Australia, Australia's export music market development initiative. It will deliver songwriting and recording initiatives in schools. It will be responsible for ensuring research and data collection around key issues, including festivals and venues. It will provide central coordination around access to live music venues for bands and artists, and it will create community music hubs in high-density living areas.

The council of Music Australia will draw on the broadest possible range of experience and skills. It will reflect the diversity of this sector. Council members will serve for four years at a time to ensure continuity of strategic leadership. However, it's important to note that Music Australia does not mark a return to the old 'Artform boards' of past years. The council of Music Australia will provide leadership and advice, but it will not make individual funding decisions. These will continue to be made by the continually refreshed assessment panels made up of musicians and music workers. Music Australia has been created in response to the sector's call. Its form has been shaped by the input of hundreds of individual musicians, music producers and industry organisations across the country. Thank you to every individual and organisation whose contribution has brought us to this point.

The other body is Creative Workplaces. This was another message that came through really clearly in the consultations for the national cultural policy. The message was that action must be taken on problems with workplace culture in many parts of the arts sector. For far too long, artists and arts workers have faced conditions that threaten their wellbeing and financial security. The Raising their voices report released in September 2022 shone a light on the sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination that has been rife within some parts of the sector for decades. Perpetrators have gone unpunished and victims have been silenced. Underpayment and exploitation of artists have been all too common. We will not allow this toxicity to become normalised. Arts jobs are real jobs. Artists are workers. They deserve to feel safe at work. They deserve good working conditions and fair pay.

Creative Workplaces will help set a higher standard. Its mission will be to instil a greater level of respect and decency for those in the creative workforce. We know that action is long overdue. We recognise that it will take time to bring about the kind of cultural change that we seek to make. But what's crucial is that we take these first steps and that we begin as we mean to continue. Creative Workplaces will provide advice on issues such as pay, safety and welfare in the arts and entertainment sector. It will refer matters to the relevant authorities such as Safe Work Australia, the Fair Work Commission and the Australian Human Rights Commission. It will hear complaints, and it will provide confidential advice to those who need it. It will develop codes of conduct and resources for the sector. It will make it a condition of funding that grant recipients adhere to the workplace standards required of them, and it will monitor their compliance with those standards. It will provide funding to Support Act, to provide mental health services for those working in the music industry.

Those opposite have dismissed the creation of Creative Workplaces as unnecessary spending on bureaucracy that will do little to improve the lives of Australian artists. Well, I wonder if the 1,600 music industry workers who contributed to the Raising their Voices report would agree with that. Seventy-four per cent of female respondents reported sexual harassment or sexual harm during their career in the music industry. Ninety-one per cent of women had experienced sexism. Seventy-six per cent of respondents had experienced bullying. I wonder just how many of these music industry workers would say that intervention is a waste of time and resources. Australia's artists cannot produce their best work while working in unsafe and unfair conditions. We can't expect artists to enrich our lives while their own are governed by fear, insecurity and exploitation.

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam once said: 'A society in which the arts flourish is a society in which every human value can flourish. A society where democracy is secure is a society where the arts are secure.' He was right, as he was about many things. Freedom of creative expression in the arts is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a democratic society. Indeed, freedom of creative expression is one of the preconditions of a healthy democracy. The arts must be free of political interference. Since the Australia Council's establishment by the Whitlam government in 1975, part of its mission has been to uphold and promote freedom of expression in the arts. That principle will always be at its heart and that principle is enshrined in this legislation. Over the past decade, the Australia Council has faced relentless undermining, sidelining and underfunding by the previous government, but through it all it has maintained the faith of the arts community because they see themselves reflected in the agency and they respect the integrity of its processes. It's important that Creative Australia is informed and guided by the expertise of the arts community and that it reflects their diversity. Across six decades, the great strength of the Australia Council has been that it is just as much part of the arts community as it is of government. That will continue to be its strength well into the future.

Independence is also key, and we believe that the role of the government is to support and empower Australia's artists, not to direct them. This government understands that the people best placed to make decisions on artistic merit are not ministers or government officials, but artists. Arm's-length decision-making and peer assessment of artistic merit should be the foundations for arts funding in a democratic society. These will continue to be the foundational principles for Creative Australia. For all its rhetoric, the previous government failed to uphold these principles. In 2015, arts minister George Brandis raided the Australia Council's budget to set up a fund to be spent according to his own preferences. When this happened, Australia's arts community were understandably horrified. Their concern was about more than just funding cuts; they understood what was at stake. The minister had broken the decades-long consensus that arts funding decisions should be made at arm's length from government. The editors of the literary journal Kill Your Darlings wrote that they had a great concern about:

The alarming cuts to the Australia Council for the Arts and the political erosion of arms-length funding … a healthy, wealthy democracy such as ours must support the arts community through apolitical funding bodies. Politics always has a place in the arts and artistic expression, but political mandates should never have a place in arts administration.

They were wise words.

When the previous government set-up the RISE Fund, funding decisions were not made independently of government. They were not made using the trusted peer-assessment method. They were not made with any guiding strategy. Our government has returned to the principles of arm's-length decision-making and peer assessment. After a decade without strategic leadership, we've introduced a national cultural policy and we've begun legislating the reforms that it prescribes.

Above the doors of the Art Gallery of New South Wales are inscribed the Latin words 'Ars Victrix', which means 'the arts victorious'. They're derived from the lines of a poem by Henry Austin Dobson:

All passes. Art alone

Enduring stays to us …

It's a reminder that art is not just how we communicate with each other; it's how we communicate with generations yet to be born, generations who will judge and seek to understand us by the art we leave behind.

The arts are too important to be treated like a personal fiefdom or a political plaything. They're too important to be abandoned to a policy vacuum. They're too important to be starved of the support that they need. We believe that these reforms and new investments will close one chapter and open a new one. A modernised, expanded and properly funded Australia Council will be better equipped to serve Australia's artists and allow them to make the contribution that we and future generations will value so profoundly. I commend the bill to the House.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

TEVENS () (): It is an exciting evening here in the House of Representatives as we debate a bill to change the name of a government agency, the Creative Australia Bill 2023. It's not the first time that we've done this. I think the last one was Jobs and Skills Australia. That was equally thrilling, to spend the time of the House of Representatives debating legislation that effectively changes the name of a government department. It's a busy government that can be focused on such important things as converting the name of an agency from the Australia Council to Creative Australia!

That is radical, but, for those that are frightened about the pace of change here, don't worry, because the board is helpfully not changing its name. The agency will become Creative Australia, but, so that we don't move too quickly and frighten people, the new board of Creative Australia will still be called the Australia Council Board. That is a great relief. For a moment there, I was worried about whether or not the great bureaucracy, the arts department of government, was going to be able to handle such a revolution. But the government have helpfully not gone too far and are only changing the agency's name, not the name of the board that oversees that agency.

We're not standing in the way of this historic moment, one that I will talk to my grandchildren about: 'I was here when we did it.' I won't be able to explain the full significance of the moment, but I'll do my best as I reflect on it for many decades to come as being one of the great things we did in my time here in the House of Representatives.

This, of course, was an attempt for the then opposition to say they had an arts policy a couple of days before the last election. The now minister gave a speech, I can't remember where, saying that they were going to bring back Creative Australia. That was probably when someone said, 'We'd better have an arts policy before election day, because there will be people in the arts community that say, "What's the Labor Party's arts policy?"' So the Labor Party announced they were going to establish Creative Australia—which, it turns out, is just changing the name of an existing department to 'Creative Australia', hence the legislation we're debating now.

For good measure, passing this legislation does mean that the existing board that won't be changing its name, the Australia Council Board, will be recreated, which is an opportunity to reappoint the existing board or consider appointing new members to a new board that will be larger than the current board. It will be very interesting to see those appointments made if indeed this legislation passes, as I expect it will, through this chamber and the Senate. That will be an opportunity for us to see whether or not there are any other motivations in this dramatic name-change-of-an-agency bill that indeed gives an opportunity for certain people to be appointed to this new board—a larger board, too, I might mention. There will be 14 people able to be rewarded by being appointed to a new board with the same name as the old board.

We will watch very intently as to who the government appoints to that board. That might give us a window into one of the reasons why it's necessary to dedicate the time of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, the 13th-largest economy on the planet, to debating legislation to change the name of an agency and wipe the appointment of existing board members so that new ones, in a larger number, can be given some kind of reward from a new government, perhaps.

Nonetheless, I take the opportunity to talk about my own electorate when it comes to the opportunities that this new agency, Creative Australia, will provide. Particularly, I have the South Australian Film Corporation, located in my electorate of Sturt. I'm sure everyone has seen many films that were either filmed there or in some way had production associated with that facility in Glenside. Certainly in my time as the member I've had the opportunity to very regularly go there and see not only the great work that they're doing at the Film Corporation but also the great ecosystem that is there for the many different creative agencies across all the different disciplines of film and content creation. I look forward to Creative Australia being as effective as the Australia Council for the Arts had been in supporting the sector.

Of course, I also pay tribute to Screen Australia, who have had a lot to do, at the Commonwealth level, with supporting production there. Obviously rebates et cetera that have been in place over many years have also helped with attracting production and postproduction, which is a sector in film, screen and content that people shouldn't underestimate. It's very significant. There are some great companies in my electorate and in Adelaide more generally that are working on projects across the world, and particularly in Hollywood. Adelaide is very lucky from a time zone point of view. You can effectively have a business operating in Los Angeles, a business operating in Adelaide and a business operating in London, and they effectively, helpfully, overlap time zones. You can basically collaborate 24 hours a day across those three time zones. With cloud computing and all those great elements of modern technology, some of the most sophisticated elements of special effects can be worked on through the day in Adelaide and then handed over to a team that night in London that hands it over to Los Angeles and then back again to Adelaide. I've had the opportunity to engage with businesses that do exactly that in my electorate. They're very impressive and are working not only on very significant Hollywood productions but also, most importantly, on productions that are happening domestically right there at the film studio in Glenside. That is one sector, when we talk about the creative arts, that I'm very passionate about.

From a community level right up to an elite level across all the various elements of art and artistic expression, like any local member, I've got a wide variety in my electorate. It is very important that, at the Commonwealth level, we are providing appropriate support to give those various sectors the best chance to achieve their full potential. That's one of the fundamental differences between us and the government: we do like to see a focus of taxpayer funds going to the coalface of these sectors and not being consumed within bureaucracies. This legislation adds complexity to bureaucracy. They're not just getting a new logo, a new creativeaustralia.gov.au and whatever else they'll be spending on the rebrand. There are some other levels of bureaucracy being created, with additional boards and this and that that'll be consuming the funding that goes into this portfolio.

Of course, every dollar going towards that is a dollar that can't be given directly to frontline support towards artists and those involved in the vast variety of creative industries, who I would think would much prefer whatever investment is being made at a federal level going directly to them rather than being soaked up by unnecessary bureaucracy. I commend the contribution of our lead speaker to the extent that we do differentiate ourselves from the government, in that we like to see taxpayer funds going directly to the people it's designed for and not used up in additional, unnecessary bureaucracy.

Nonetheless, we're not standing in the way of this bill. I think we've outlined that maybe this is not the most significant way in which we could be assisting this sector or spending the time of the House of Representatives, but, if this is the big priority of the government when it comes to supporting those in the creative industries, we will not stand in their way. We will let this great, totemic piece of legislation pass and watch the unbelievable dividend, the return from it, echo and reverberate across the creative industries throughout my electorate and across the nation. I conclude my contribution on this bill to the House.

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

I'm pleased to see the member for Sturt doing his bit for Australian arts with that very poor attempt at stand-up comedy, but of course he is forever Salieri to his predecessor's Mozart in the electorate of Sturt.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mozart is in the House tonight!

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

Mozart's in the House! God help us!

'Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.' These are the words of Albert Einstein, the father of relativity; a famous physicist, who understood the importance of arts and culture to our lives. He knew that arts and culture enrich everyday life.

Labor governments and cultural policy go hand in hand. Australia's modern cultural policy commenced with Gough Whitlam's announcement of funds, to establish what would become the Australia Council for the Arts, the primary arts funding and advisory body for the country, in 1973. It was the first time that an Australian federal government had formally developed a cultural policy.

Then, in 1994, by then Prime Minister Paul Keating developed Creative Nation, and that was born. That report emphasised culture's importance to national identity and defined 'culture' more broadly than earlier conceptions by including film, radio, libraries and more. It also stressed the economic potential of cultural activity and the arts, stating that:

This cultural policy is also an economic policy. Culture creates wealth. Broadly defined, our cultural industries generate 13 billion dollars a year. Culture employs. Around 336,000 Australians are employed in culture-related industries. Culture adds value, it makes an essential contribution to innovation, marketing and design. It is a badge of our industry.

And then, in 2013, Creative Australia was introduced by Julia Gillard's Labor government. That was designed to modernise our cultural policy and set out pathways to provide a strategic framework for the next 10 years. That policy described the essential role that arts and culture play in the life of every Australian and how creativity is central to Australia's economic and social success—that a creative nation is a productive nation. Described by then Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, Creative Australia was a 'national cultural policy for the decade', creating excellence in the arts, creating jobs, creating opportunity and creating unique Australian stories, which are all vital to an outward-looking, competitive and confident nation. It was a comprehensive action plan to drive an arts, education, creativity and innovation sector for a decade from 2013—except, in September of that year, the Liberals came to power and scrapped Creative Australia, and replaced it with: nothing; nothing at all.

The complete lack of a cultural policy over the following nine years of deliberately neglectful Liberal administration of the arts made the sector susceptible to harm, neglect and policy drift. The arts industry suffered from cuts and political interference under the Liberals, and one of the worst examples was the $100 million cut made to the Australia Council to pay for then arts minister George Brandis's Catalyst program. Catalyst was Senator Brandis's personal plaything, a $100 million lolly bag to be handed out to artists and organisations that won his favour. All that was missing from that scandal was a powdered wig and a pug on his lap as he bestowed his largesse upon the little people.

Before COVID arrived, the Australia Council's financing had not fully recovered from these reductions. The Liberals then abandoned Australian musicians and artists completely during the pandemic. I recall the words of the member for Sturt, talking so sincerely, it seemed, about how important it was to have direct funding for artists and musicians. And yet we all remember the COVID years. The Liberals could not even acknowledge that artists are workers, with the COVID wage subsidy for everybody else, deliberately designed to exclude artists and arts workers. While the RISE fund did some good, it was set up as a fund where ministers could personally choose pet projects to fund. Our government respects theatre and respects workers in the arts for the contribution they make both to culture and the economy.

Dr Scott East, a lecturer in museum studies and an expert in cultural data, from the University of New South Wales School of Art and Design, is part of a team of academics working on the Australian Cultural Data Engine. The ACDE—unfortunately, we didn't quite get there with AC/DC—is currently examining biographical data on more than 150,000 artists, architects and performers, and studying the rise and fall of arts organisations since 1945. In a recent article in March, he said:

We've had a cultural policy vacuum on a national level for over a decade and this new policy picks up on this, as well as addressing post-pandemic discontent in the arts.

When they work well, cultural policies can facilitate an important vision—bringing the entire arts sector together to work towards something bold and exciting.

Cultural policies can play an important role in shaping and promoting Australian identity. They can also nurture the creativity of domestic talent and help increase access and participation of everyday citizens in cultural activities.

That sounds like a hell of a lot more than a name change, as the member for Sturt was alleging.

Tasmania has a rich arts and creativity sector. It has a thriving arts scene that draws inspiration from its breathtaking natural landscapes, rich cultural heritage and a strong community spirit. From traditional Aboriginal art to contemporary exhibitions and performances, Tasmania has become a haven for artists seeking to push boundaries and showcase their talents. Festivals known throughout the country, like the winter Mona Foma event, the Festival of Voices and Ten Days on the Island, showcase our talents and bring people from far and wide to celebrate our unique island state and its remarkable and talented artists. I've got to mention MONA down there in Hobart, in the electorate of Clark; what David Walsh has done there has reinvigorated the idea of arts and what role it can play in community life. It is an absolutely breathtaking example of modern art.

The Glover Prize and the Bay of Fires winter arts festival are just two of many regional arts groups in my electorate that promote our region on a national level, promoting and celebrating local artists. The Tasmanian Craft Fair and WinterFire are both events out at Deloraine, in the Meander Valley, and they bring people out in droves to see the wonderful creations of our local makers and producers. We are richly imbued with creative people, and our policy, the legislation before the House now, drives a direction for that.

On top of all this, TV and film is increasingly being shot in Tasmania. Forget South Australia—it's flat and dry; nothing to see there! Come to Tasmania. We've got forests, seas, coasts. We've got everything—beautiful light, old towns. That's where you need to be showing your film and TV. Come to Tasmania. Unfortunately, there is an overrepresentation of Gothic cannibalism in some of the films that have been made, but, nevertheless, it all showcases the appeal and potential of the arts in Tasmania. On a serious note, our creatives find it difficult to shine with a lack of structure to their work and without the support and funding they need. That's what they're going to get from Creative Australia and Revive.

The Albanese Labor government's new national cultural policy, Revive, is a new chapter in Australia's cultural story that sets the course for Australia's arts, entertainment and cultural sector for the next five years. Revive will empower our talented artists and arts organisations to thrive and grow, unlocking new opportunities, reaching new audiences and telling stories in compelling new ways. It will bring drive, direction and vision back to this $17 billion industry which employs an estimated 400,000 Australians, after a lost decade of federal policy drift, funding neglect and, frankly, petty politics.

Backed by $286 million in dedicated funding over four years, Revive's centrepiece is the establishment of Creative Australia. Creative Australia will be the government's new principal arts investment and advisory body. The governing body of Creative Australia will continue to be known as the Australia Council. Creative Australia will expand on and modernise the Australia Council's work with additional funding of $200 million over four years, restoring the money cut by the former Liberal and National government. Funding decisions will be made on the basis of artistic merit and at arm's length from government. You can support arts in government without dictating what it has to be.

Within Creative Australia four new bodies will be established, including a new, First Nations led body that will give First Nations people autonomy over decisions and investments. It will invest in First Nations languages and develop a First Nations creative workforce strategy.

There'll be Music Australia, a dedicated new body to support and invest in the Australian contemporary music industry. It'll create music hubs and develop a workforce plan to identify skill and training needs. It'll deliver songwriting and recording initiatives into schools and pilot a program to support access to art and music therapy.

There'll be Writers Australia to support writers and illustrators in creating new works. It'll develop national industry initiatives and international markets to maximise exposure—and I give a quick shout-out to a friend of mine, Jason Chatfield, living in New York. He is a great illustrator, a young bloke who I met many years ago in Fremantle. He is a great example of an Australian doing well overseas. He draws Ginger Meggs. Unfortunately, a lot of the newspapers have stopped running the cartoons now, but still we plug for our illustrators. They do great work.

There will be the new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces to ensure creative workers are paid fairly and have safe workplaces free from harassment and discrimination. That's an important element to all this. We are treating arts workers as workers.

Revive is built on five pillars and puts First Nations first, recognising and respecting the crucial place of these stories at the heart of our national arts and culture. That's why, in addition to the Creative Australia First Nations body, Revive commits the government to introducing legislation to protect First Nations knowledge and cultural expressions, including the harm caused by fake art; developing a First Nations creative workforce strategy; funding the establishment of a national Aboriginal art gallery in Alice Springs and an Aboriginal cultural centre in Perth—and I know the member for Fremantle will appreciate that—and providing $11 million to establish a First Nations languages policy partnership between First Nations representatives and Australian governments. Revive also commits the government to regulating Australian content on streaming platforms, improving lending rights and income for Australian writers, increased funding for regional art—very close to my heart—and dozens of other measures.

The Creative Australia Bill 2023 is the next tranche of legislation that establishes Creative Australia as a modernised entity with new governance arrangements, including establishing Music Australia and creative workplaces. Since 1975 the Australia Council has been the principal Commonwealth arts investment and advisory body, with a strong profile in the sector. It supports and promotes creative arts practice that is recognised nationally and internationally and it provides research and advocacy on issues affecting the sector.

The Albanese Labor government is proud to continue the legacy of supporting arts and culture in Australia through establishing Creative Australia, a restored and expanded federal entity for arts and entertainment—much more than a name change, Member for Sturt. This bill delivers on key elements of Revive, the government's national cultural policy, to establish Creative Australia, return the Brandis cuts and, within the new entity, establish Music Australia and creative workplaces to support and grow the sector. The bill responds directly to calls for change from the sector received through more than 1,200 submissions and input from more than 800 attendees at the 14 town halls held across the country during the consultation on the policy.

Music Australia will support the Australian contemporary music industry to grow, including through strategic initiatives and industry partnerships; research, training and skills development; and export promotion. Creative workplaces will work with artists, industry workers and employers to raise and maintain safety standards. It will also set minimum standards and rates of pay for the sector, and organisations seeking government funding will be expected to meet these standards—a very important clause.

Timely passage of the bill in the winter sittings will allow the commencement of Creative Australia's new governance arrangements as soon as possible after 1 July 2023, for the benefit of artists and arts organisations.

Under Revive, there will be a place for every story and a story for every place. Tasmania wants more freedom to tell its own stories. Our artists are creators and workers. The sector is essential to our culture and our economy. As the sector recovers from years of neglect, followed by the tough pandemic period, Revive will set the arts sector on a new trajectory, with fresh momentum. I commend the bill to the House.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Creative Australia Bill 2023 and the Creative Australia Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2023. I believe that arts funding should as much as possible go to support artists, performers and arts workers, and the backstage crews, exhibition facilitators and all the people who work to deliver a great show, a poignant work of art or a piece of music or literature to enrich the soul. Whether it is performing arts, visual arts or literature, getting the money to the front line is a good principle, and a principle seemingly absent from these bills.

These two bills are part of the government's legislative agenda to implement decisions announced as part of its national cultural policy, but this government seems very keen on imposing priorities, principles and values upon artistic and cultural activity. Whether they will actually produce better artistic content is, I believe, highly doubtful. A much better approach would be to leave it in the hands of artists and performers, rather than putting our faith in having many more bureaucrats. But these bills give effect to a rather different agenda. So far we have seen legislation passed which changed the name from the Australia Council to Creative Australia. The bill before the House is the next piece of this legislative agenda. The government tells us that the new Creative Australia entity will have expanded functions, responsibility and new governance structures as the Creative Australia body replaces the Australia Council body.

The main bill is cognate with the Creative Australia (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2023, which will repeal the legislation as it relates to the Australia Council, essentially dissolving the entity of the Australia Council under law, which does raise the rather obvious question: why not just keep calling the whole thing the Australia Council?

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gough Whitlam called it that.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Gough Whitlam did call it the Australia Council. You would think those opposite would want to honour his legacy, but no. It's important to remember that this is typical of the new Labor government, who love to name existing operations something new, and the reason they need to rename it is that they need to have a media release. If you don't have a media release, what's the point? It's amazing that this government has had five media releases this year about the same announcement: the renaming. They launched the national cultural policy in January this year, 2023, and then they announced Revive, a new national cultural policy—two announcements on the same day about the same thing.

A couple of months later, in March, they're talking about how parliament are voting for Creative Australia. They still haven't delivered anything. There's an announcement that we're having a vote. And then there's another press release about how the government is reviving Australian arts and culture. Two weeks later, it's laying the foundation for Creative Australia. 'If we don't have that name change, we can't have all these press releases.' No doubt the minister will have another one coming out tomorrow or the day after that we've voted again and passed another bit of legislation. 'We haven't really achieved anything in 12 months for the arts community, but we've had a lot of press releases and we've got a lot of good coverage,' so 'job done' for the minister.

I really find it interesting that there are more media releases about the renaming and the restructure of the existing arts body than about the entire Labor small-business policy platform. As someone who spent 15 years in small business, working with them and for them, it's amazing that we get more press releases about the arts—and I love the arts and I'll continue to talk about them. But this is what this government does: press release after press release. Policies that actually deliver for the community are much more important.

As I said, they released their national cultural policy in January and much of the document is simply a re-announcement of what we knew was already happening. Back in March we debated the initial Creative Australia, which has essentially rebranded the Australia Council as Creative Australia. Again, it's a result of this government's decision to transfer the functions of Creative Partnerships Australia to the Australia Council.

Creative Partnerships Australia was established 10 years ago with the aim of attracting more philanthropic funding for the arts. A great thing. Any time that governments, private enterprise and philanthropic organisations can work together is a great way to get value for taxpayer dollars, and it's operated successfully ever since then. Yet the first thing Tony Burke did when he came into government was to abolish the agency.

There are several aspects of these new arrangements that are troubling. The first is that we have seen a re-weighting of spending towards having more Commonwealth arts officials, and that's at the expense of real frontline arts activities in all of our communities. According to the budget, the average staff level for the Australia Council will increase by 32 per cent, from an estimated 108 in 2022-23 to 143 in 2023-24. Let's be clear, that 108 to 143 increase, every dollar in those salaries, is a dollar that could have been spent in our communities, in the community of Casey, at an amazing organisation like Burrinja, to deliver arts performances to support artists.

We hear a big top-line number of the government announcing their funding of $199 million over four years, but how much of that money is going to these staff increases for more bureaucrats in Canberra and is less money for artists and communities on the ground where it actually matters? This has been redirected from a number of places. With the government having cancelled several programs previously funded by the coalition government, including the temporary support fund and the balance of the Location Incentive Program, every dollar that goes to fund bureaucrats is a dollar that cannot go to artists, performers and people in the arts sector who deliver actual arts activities that can entertain and inspire Australians.

This re-naming of existing programs and game playing with arts budgets is an increasingly familiar feature of this government. Let's consider the perplexing appearance and subsequent disappearance of Minister Burke's Live Performance Support Fund. We've had five press releases, we've got to remember that. We've got the press releases. But he announced in the October budget as part of a $38.6 million supporting the arts program it was going to deliver funds for plays, concerts and festivals from November 2022 to February 2023. Sounds great. Very exciting. That's great investment into the arts. But, suddenly, we didn't hear any more about it.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why not?

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason we didn't hear about it, member for Nicholls, and that's a very good question, is that the recent budget confirmed the demise of the program. I wonder—the member for Nicholls would probably know this—how much dollars of that $38.6 million was spent?

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would hope all of it.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You would hope all of it, member for Nicholls.

Member for Banks, you would like some—maybe half would be nice. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, not a dollar was spent.

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What happened to it?

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It disappeared. It went back into the Treasurer's surplus. But the important thing, member for Banks, is they got their announcement. The minister got to tell everyone that he was spending $38.6 million supporting the arts program. As we heard from the member for Lyons, those opposite will stand up and talk about how much they care about the arts and how much money they invest in the arts. But the reality is they do the press releases. They don't actually deliver it. There's not a word about this. Hopefully, the next speaker might feel free to address the supporting the arts program and why that money wasn't spent. It's a mystery to me. But we got our press release. It's just another example of this government being big on spin and politics without actually delivering.

Now, in my electorate of Casey, we value the creative arts, whether literary, visual or musical. The local performing arts scene is a really strong one in Casey, rich with creative talent, including having two Australian Idol finalists in the top eight this year—something I was really proud of. Two extraordinary young people, Josh Hannan and Anya Alchemy, had amazing success on the show, and it was amazing to talk to them through that process and hear their passion for their craft and the success they've achieved chasing their dream. Josh is a local singer and songwriter. He grew up on a rose farm in Mount Evelyn, while Anya is a Selby local, growing up playing gigs in the hills at the Sooki Lounge in Belgrave. My wife and I were lucky enough to attend Anya's homecoming show at the Sooki Lounge. It was a great performance, and the crowd's appreciation for her talents was clear. It is amazing to see young people living their dream.

I value and appreciate the coalition's focus on stimulating as many new events, shows, festivals and productions as possible and getting them seen by as many Australians as possible. While those opposite like to claim that for the last 10 years the coalition did nothing, the reality is that under the previous coalition government 541 shows and events all around Australia were funded under our $200 million Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand—RISE—Fund. Burrinja is an example in my electorate that was a beneficiary that project. This brought back an industry that was on the brink of collapse after the COVID-19 pandemic, creating over 213,000 job opportunities as well as providing hope, entertainment and joy to all of us just when we needed it. We even allocated a further $20 million towards this program in the March 2022 budget, but the new minister cancelled it. He didn't talk about that, but he cancelled that $20 million that was making a difference in many communities, including mine in Casey. Labor's focus is on spending money, on more bureaucrats, and this was a missed opportunity to increase the number of concerts, festivals, events and shows and in turn increase the number of jobs for performing artists and participation by Australians in the arts.

As the son of an artist and a musician, I know how important the arts industry and culture are to the very essence of social community and wellbeing of human beings. The Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges nurture the most amazing arts communities, from Healesville to Warburton to Sassafras and down to Upwey. We've got amazing organisations like the TarraWarra Gallery, and the Eva and Marc Besen centre is a great example of philanthropic investment in our community.

I was lucky enough just last weekend to attend and open the Yarra Ranges Photographic Society Expressions 4 Exhibition display at our Warburton arts centre. It was an amazing display, with so many passionate artists there. As I've mentioned a few times, Burrinja is jewel in the crown of the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges in Upwey. And there's the Ridges and Rivers project, which was a $30 million investment between the coalition federal government, the state government, the council and private organisations, like Bendigo Bank, driving tourism and arts projects in our community. I had the opportunity to visit one: Peter McIlwain's Lung Trees sonic art in the Dandenongs. It was an amazing display and a great example of investing money into artists in the community.

I've got to give a shout-out to the Kapi Art Space Gallery in Kalorama. They just reopened after having to shut down for many months after the site was damaged in a car accident. It's wonderful to see that they've reopened and that many locals and tourists can enjoy the wonderful art displays at the Kapi Art Space. Congratulations on the opening.

Although the coalition will not be opposing these bills, as I've outlined, the case has not been made for these changes, as they are not, in the main, things we would choose to do. In fact, during a cost-of-living crisis, it is interesting that the government has prioritised increasing an already large board size to something even larger and to prioritise making name changes over actually delivering. These two bills are a clear change to Labor's very different focus: more Commonwealth arts officials and more bureaucracy. I will always advocate for our Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges artists, musicians, sculptors and exhibitors.

Debate interrupted.