Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to make some further comments in relation to the Creative Australia Amendment (Implementation of Revive) Bill 2024. We know that, for so many artists in Australia, it is incredibly difficult to make a living. We know that it would have got harder throughout the recent years, with COVID, but, generally, we know that they are well below the national average when it comes to income. It is incredibly difficult, despite them contributing so much to our national identity and our culture, to our children and their understanding of our country, our traditions and our multiculturalism—all these aspects are incredibly important—and, in particular, to us understanding and having better awareness of First Nations cultural traditions and art. We know, for example, that artists in Australia are generally unable to work full-time in creative work because the income from this work is simply not sufficient. Only one in 10 artists can work full-time in the arts. Two out of five working artists need to meet their basic living costs by additional work.

In 2022, the Productivity Commission found that the sale of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, including souvenirs, was worth $250 million annually, supporting thousands of jobs in remote communities and helping to draw more tourists to Australia and create more awareness of those First Australians. So it's incredibly important to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and their art in that way. Unfortunately, though, according to Creative Australia, there is no single source of representative data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and their working conditions. That's simply not good enough, and it's symptomatic of the way in which we don't take First Nations artists as seriously as we should—or haven't, to date. I certainly hope that, with this legislation, that is going to change.

The bill before us will help to start to turn that around and give more support to and certainty for First Nations artists. The bill—and I will support it—will create two new bodies within Creative Australia: First Nations Arts and also Writing Australia. First Nations Arts will have autonomy over the allocation of its funds for investment in First Nations arts. It will be guided by First Nations cultural protocols and principles, to support and invest in a diverse range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice and provide financial assistance, whether by way of loan, grant, investment, award or otherwise, as it sees fit, and whether on commercial terms or otherwise.

Separately, Writing Australia will support and promote the Australian literature sector, including the development of markets and audiences. We know the importance of stories, and, too often, when we've spoken of the arts, the literature sector has been overlooked and writers have been left to really fend for themselves. So this amendment, to create Writing Australia, is welcome.

We know we have a lot of work to do to better support the arts in Australia, particularly First Nations artists. We're already starting to see some good outcomes from investment in Australia's creative sector. Of course, we need to remember that, within the philanthropic sector, philanthropy has always been a huge contributor to the arts. I very much thank all those that are in a position to, through philanthropy, assist in that development and that continuation. I know there are many within my community in Warringah that invest in the future of that cultural aspect and storytelling.

Creative Australia is already making its mark in supporting First Nations artists. We know 23 artists, including Emma Donovan, Dan Sultan, Jungaji, Buddy Knox, Lucas Proudfoot and Selve, are already set to receive contemporary music touring grants. It has been encouraging to see the government's focus on genuine community input through the First Nations First national consultations. It's the sort of genuine engagement with First Nations people around Australia that my community in Warringah want to see. In Warringah, my constituents showed one of the strongest levels of support for the Voice referendum in the country, for the recognition of First Nations people—First Australians—in our Constitution.

I strongly believe in Indigenous peoples' self-determination and the opportunity to have much stronger representation. It's positive that there appears to be a genuine effort by the government in its commitment to listen, to take on feedback and to provide First Nations peoples with an opportunity to be active participants in decision-making within First Nations art. Increased participation in the arts will also provide employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, which will allow strong economic participation and development of First Nations artists in their communities.

I should note, though—I am concerned about this—that the multicultural aspect of Australia cannot be overlooked. When I think of Writing Australia, for example, it needs to make sure that, when look at applications and at supporting artists and writers, it has in its mind's eye an awareness of our multicultural nature in Australia. There are many stories to tell, many backgrounds and many cultures, and we must make sure that we actually reflect that through that funding of so many bodies and that we reflect the true nature of our communities, which are part of an incredibly successful multicultural nation. I hope that through all these bodies there is rightly a focus on that First Nations arts piece. We must make sure that all other funding and bodies keep an eye on and make sure that they have that principle of multiculturalism as well and that that be recognised.

To finish off, this bill represents essential steps towards revitalising an industry consistently undermined by budget cuts in previous years. Too often people think the arts are something that's a 'nice to have' not a 'must have'. But, in fact, when we look back and think of what it is to be Australian, what our national identity is and what our culture is, it is so often contributed to by the arts. Many in Warringah and around Australia are, I know, incredibly proud of Australian artists and what they do, how they represent Australia on the international scene and how they tell our stories through all the different mediums. I commend this bill to the House.

Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently arrived in Canberra early enough on a Sunday to attend the National Gallery of Australia. It does have a very magnificent collection. I especially went to see the Century of Quilts collection, which is magnificent, showing not only European quilts but Indigenous quilting and fabric art. I also visited the major exhibition by the Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira. I was interested to learn through Senate estimates that I am not the only one to be drawn to this exhibition. Apparently, visits to the National Gallery have surged by 24 per cent since public attention was drawn to one of the portraits by Mr Namatjira.

The other item I was interested in looking at again was Jackson Pollock's magnum opus, Blue Poles. This piece of art needs no introduction in this place. It stands the test of time and will continue to attract visitors for centuries to come. It was of course purchased by a former member for Werriwa. It was Gough Whitlam's approval in 1973 for the extraordinary sum of $1.3 million—extraordinarily cheap, as it turns out, because, while it is difficult to value pieces of art, it's now estimated to be worth around $500 million. Who said Gough didn't have a good eye for art or investment?

Labor has always had the back of the arts community in Australia. From the halcyon days of Gough and Don Dunstan to now, Labor and the arts community have always gone hand in hand. In July last year, I had the pleasure of hosting a roundtable discussion with Australia's Special Envoy for the Arts, the member for Macquarie, who, thankfully, is joining us in the chamber today. The venue was the wonderful Casula Powerhouse, and there were many representatives present from our local Werriwa arts community. The roundtable's objective was to directly feed into the matter that is before the House today—that is, to implement Labor's national cultural policy, Revive. So I'm delighted to be here today, speaking to this important piece on national policy, knowing that what comes before us has been widely canvassed and discussed and that my own arts community in Werriwa had the opportunity for input. I really thank the special envoy for that.

This bill establishes two bodies within Creative Australia: First Nations Arts and Writing Australia. The Albanese government recognises and respects the vital place First Nations stories have at the centre of Australia's art and culture. The bill will establish a First Nations board to oversee the work of First Nations Arts. The board will consist of 10 members, and all will be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. Uniquely, the board will have autonomy over the allocation of funds for investment in First Nations art. In addition, the First Nations Board will promote best practice in First Nations cultural protocols in the arts, provide financial assistance to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice, advise the Australia Council board on the responsibility of First Nations arts and report performance to the Australia Council board.

In addition to First Nations Art and the First Nations Board, this bill also creates Writing Australia. Writing Australia will commence on 1 July 2025 and will be a new body to support and promote the Australian literature sector. Like First Nations Arts, Writing Australia will be supported by the Writing Australia Council and will consist of a chair and eight other members. Writing Australia will have a wide brief. It will be there to support authors, illustrators and publishers to create new works, but it also will have the role of increasing national and international markets, developing national industry initiatives and investing in a network of key organisations. Writing Australia has been specifically designed to reach into the commercial sectors where traditional grant funding models have limited success. It will become a policy engine for the sector.

In the year since Revive was launched, this government has achieved so much in the policy area of the arts. We reversed the previous government's funding cuts, established Creative Australia, established Creative Workplaces and established Music Australia, Sharing the National Collection and so much more. After the difficult years of the pandemic, coupled with the funding cuts of the previous government, Revive is indeed appropriately titled, because Labor and the Albanese government are reviving the arts sector. Finally we have a government that listens to this sector, tries to understand the challenges and then acts to address those challenges.

This bill further implements the Revive policy document and, in doing so, offers the arts community—in particular our First Nations people—and writing communities a place at the table, front and centre, where they belong. I referred earlier to the halcyon days of the 1970s, and they were, but here is a thought: perhaps through the implementation of Revive the best days of our arts community lie just around the corner. That is a suggestion for which I can hear the spirit of Gough saying, 'Here, here!' I commend the bill to the House.

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

I thank the member for Werriwa for her kind words. It was fantastic to visit her electorate, as it was to visit your electorate, Deputy Speaker McKenzie, and engage with incredible artists and other people who care about this sector. Soon after the Albanese government came to office, the Minister for the Arts began the consultation with the arts community that would lead to the development of Australia's new national cultural policy. It was my privilege to be part of those consultations as the Special Envoy for the Arts to talk with artists and arts workers across the country about the opportunities that inspire them and the issues that challenge them.

Today it's my great pleasure to speak in support of the third piece of the series of legislation that responds to the needs they identified and implements the reforms that we promised. The Creative Australia Amendment (Implementation of Revive) Bill 2024 will create two new bodies within Creative Australia that will allow it to better support First Nations creativity and provide stronger strategic leadership to the literature sector. These are significant steps.

I listened to the shadow minister, the member for Bradfield, earlier in this debate characterise these changes as meaningless bureaucratic rearrangements that will expand the arts bureaucracy and do nothing to improve the conditions of Australian artists. This rhetoric is unfortunately typical of some of those opposite. It betrays a contempt for artists' expertise. The previous government much preferred captain's picks to arms-length arts funding, so naturally they're uncomfortable with reform that empowers the arts community. This is about putting artists and arts workers at the centre of decision-making, where they should be.

The Liberals made the same cynical baseless objections to Music Australia, which has been operating since August. Let's take a look at its record since then. In less than 12 months, Music Australia has launched a quarterly export development fund for artists with three categories of international support. The first recipients will be announced this week. They have supported an additional 60-plus projects worth around $1.8 million through arts projects grants. They have supported an additional 32 international engagement projects worth around three-quarters of a million dollars. They have committed half a million dollars towards the Contemporary Music Touring Program. They have announced four service delivery partners: the Push, the Association of Artist Managers, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association and the Live Music Office live and local program. They have introduced the Music Australia international conference contribution fund, which to date has supported 38 artist managers and 20 labels to attend international events.

They have produced valuable research on the music industry, including Soundcheck: insights into Australia's music festival sector. They have begun economic analysis of the Australian music industry that will report on the music industry's contribution to the Australian economy, the direct contribution of the music industry to employment and the value of Australian music exports. They have convened sector discussion sessions on a whole range of key topics. They have done all this with just four staff, so let's have no more of this nonsense about jobs for bureaucrats, and let's focus on what this legislation before us will do in the same way our previous legislation is already supporting the music sector.

I want to talk first about First Nations Arts. We believe it's essential that First Nations people themselves determine the funding priorities and design the programs that support their creative expression. Throughout its history, Creative Australia has always ensured First Nations representation on the assessment panels that allocate funding for First Nations arts projects. While there has always been a space for Indigenous self-determination within Creative Australia, this legislation will enshrine cultural authority to an even greater extent.

The legislation will create a new autonomous body within Creative Australia named First Nations Arts. It will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will decide the agenda, design programs and determine funding priorities. This new body will significantly increase the Australian government's investment in First Nations culture. It has been allocated $35.5 million over four years to support the creation of new works, including major works of scale. This support will allow new stories to be told and a new generation of creatives to find their voice.

In our consultations, we heard that too many demands are made of too few artists and arts workers. Unfortunately, this has led to talented people burning out and leaving the sector altogether. We simply cannot afford to lose that talent. More effort must be directed to nurturing the careers of First Nations people in the arts. More resources must be devoted to providing sustainable career pathways. More consideration must be given to the specific needs of First Nations people in the cultural sector. First Nations arts will help build the capacity of creative individuals and organisations across the arts and culture sector and develop the skills of the cultural workforce. The new body will develop a creative workforce development strategy, which will help address these needs. The arts can be a powerful force for reconciliation. It opens up a space in which we can build deeper understandings of culture and more empathetic connections with each other. The arts inspires us to imagine an Australia more at peace with itself, but it is essential that this engagement happen in a respectful and culturally appropriate way.

In our consultations, we heard that far too often arts projects are undertaken in ways that breach cultural protocols, appropriate Indigenous culture and do not provide the kind of cultural safety that First Nations people should be able to expect. To address this issue, the new body will develop and promote best practice cultural protocols and provide cultural safety training across arts and cultural organisations. I want to acknowledge the many First Nations artists, arts workers and organisations who contributed to the formulation of the National Cultural Policy and who've engaged so constructively in shaping this new body. While this new board will be dedicated to supporting First Nations cultural expression, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture will also continue to be funded through existing programs within Creative Australia in all of the art forms it supports.

The second board being established through this bill is Writing Australia, a direct response to the patient, reasoned and persistent calls from the literature sector. For a decade, the sector has voiced its concern about a lack of policy leadership from government and about chronic underinvestment. These concerns came through clearly in our consultations. Writing Australia will provide the additional investment and a strategic leadership that the sector has been asking for. This support is greatly needed. Compared to other art forms, literature has been structurally underfunded for many years.

Writing Australia will deliver the funding that will allow authors, illustrators and publishers to create new works. It will promote Australian literature and expand markets for it at home and overseas. It will invest in organisations that support the sector, and it will deliver national industry initiatives to expand the industry. It will provide a common table for writers, publishers and other stakeholders to meet around to discuss the sector's common challenges and opportunities. Writing Australia will become a policy engine for the sector, building partnerships and expertise that will support both writers and audiences.

Australia has so much to gain from a thriving literature culture. Research has established clear wellbeing benefits from reading. Reading slows the heart rate. Twenty per cent of regular readers say that it reduces their stress, and 43 per cent say it improves their sleep. Regular reading deepens our empathy with others and enriches our understanding of the world around us. Nineteen per cent of readers say that reading reduces loneliness. By investing in writing and reading, we're investing in the vitality of our culture and the wellbeing of the Australian people, so the $19.3 million over four years to Writing Australia by the Albanese government is a really good investment.

Deputy Speaker, you may recall that, while he was arts minister, George Brandis spent $20,000 having a personal library and bespoke bookshelves installed in his office. Personally, what trouble me more than George Brandis's bookshelves are the countless shelves of great Australian books that were never written because of the cuts he made to arts funding in this country. Without any warning and without any justification, he raided $105 million from the Australia Council budget and directed that money to a slush fund to be spent according to his own preferences. In doing this, he broke the decades-long consensus that arts funding decisions must be made free from political interference. Worse than that, he attacked the livelihoods of some of the most talented and insightful creative Australians of our time. His cuts hit individual artists and small to medium organisations the hardest.

While Brandis quarantined the largest performing arts organisations from his cuts, no such protection was given to literature. More than any other art form, the literature sector is made up of individual practitioners, but individuals were forbidden from applying for support from his fund. These decisions created profound and unnecessary hardship in the literature community, but something that struck me throughout that period was the solidarity and resilience that the literature community demonstrated. This helped the sector through that storm.

I am continually impressed by how those within Australia's literature sector support each other, and I want to acknowledge the advocacy of the many individuals and organisations whose insights have informed the national cultural policy. They planted the seed of an idea that will soon emerge as Writing Australia. To organisations like the Australian Society of Authors, Books Create Australia, the Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Library and Information Association, thank you for everything that you have done to allow us to better understand the literature sector's needs and to bring us to this moment.

These reforms build on the legacy of previous Labor governments. We on this side of the parliament understand that it is not the place of government to dictate taste. It's the responsibility of government to create the conditions that will allow Australian creativity to flourish. Freedom of creative expression is a basic principle of democracy. It's a principle that the Labor Party has always fought for and always will fight for. It was the Whitlam government that created the literature board of the Australia Council for the Arts in 1973. The board was created to replace the Commonwealth Literary Fund, whose funds were allocated by political leaders, not by subject matter experts. Released of political interference, the board enabled the creation of some of Australia's most powerful and incisive literary works of the 20th century, and it provided more financial support to Australian writers than had ever been offered before. In its first two years, the literature board of the Australia Council for the Arts provided more literary fellowships than its predecessor had in the previous three decades.

Most writers don't seek fame or fortune. Most of the writers I talk to tell me that all they want is the time, space and freedom to create. Helen Garner once said:

Every page of writing is the result of a thousand tiny decisions and desperate acts of will.

It's true to say that writing is intensive, deeply personal and very often a solitary endeavour, but I hope that the writers of Australia feel that they are not entirely on their own and that they have a government firmly by their side and an audience that appreciates the contribution that they make to the vitality of our society. I hope that Australian writers can see, in the reforms that we're enacting and in the investments we're making, a vote of confidence in the work that they do. I say this with a sense of humility, because ultimately their work will outlast us all.

Last week I visited the State Library of New South Wales, and as I entered the foyer I saw these words inscribed into the stone above me:

In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.

These words reminded me that future generations will turn to the literature of our time to better understand who we were, what we valued and what moved us. Literature is a channel of communication between generations. For that reason, I'm proud to be part of a government that judges these investments worthy of being made and these reforms worthy of being enacted.

In our natural cultural policy we propose the most ambitious reform to Creative Australia in its five-decade history. This legislation will complete the transformation of the organisation that the policy prescribed. The legislation will ensure that our new investments will be made according to the literature community's own priorities and that decisions will be based on their expertise. The legislation will enshrine the principle of First Nations self-determination. I commend the bill to the House.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's an honour to follow the member for Macquarie in speaking on the Creative Australia Amendment (Implementation of Revive) Bill 2024. She's our Special Envoy for the Arts and she has such a passionate commitment to the arts, and that started long before she's had that particular role. I particularly want to acknowledge all the work that she's done to engage people around Australia in the important work of our national institutions here in Canberra and to engage parliamentarians from this building and get them out, while they're here, to see the institutions. I want to thank the member for Macquarie for that. This bill is the culmination of months of hard work by the Minister for the Arts and his department, and I thank them for that work.

I want to start by talking about the incredible arts community here in my electorate of Canberra. Art in Canberra is thriving—from our national collecting institutions, who have had their funding restored, to the incredible plays and shows across the bridge at the soon-to-be-upgraded theatre centre, or our stunning natural landscape, which has been the subject of many a photographer's lens. Canberrans love art in all its forms, and we've all been following on social media the journey of Lindy Lee's Ouroboros, the 13-tonne sculpture that has been making its way on the back of a truck from Brisbane to the National Gallery of Australia, to mark its 40th birthday this year. We're all really looking forward to seeing that in person. That's why bills such as this are so important.

This bill establishes two new bodies within Creative Australia—First Nations Arts and Writing Australia—delivering on two key commitments announced in the National Cultural Policy. The Albanese Labor government is committed to supporting the arts, and our art community know just how genuinely passionate and interested in the arts our minister is. For Canberrans and the nation, it is so heartening to have a minister who actually enjoys going to the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery and having a conversation about art in all its forms with our community.

When we came to government, Labor restored funding to our important collecting institutions. I want to pay tribute to the minister again for making that happen. Just a few weeks ago, before the budget, I was really excited to join my ACT colleague the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher, at Albert Hall to announce that the Albanese government was funding the Canberra Symphony Orchestra to the tune of $4.1 million over four years. As a trained classical cellist and a former member of Canberra Youth Orchestra, Senator Gallagher was particularly proud of this announcement. It was another example of Labor investing in Canberra and investing in the arts, because that's what our government does.

In the years since we launched Revive, this government has established Creative Australia to modernise arts funding; reversed the significant coalition cuts to the sector that occurred under former minister Brandis; established Creative Workplaces to improve workplace standards and safety; established Music Australia to support the contemporary music industry; established Sharing the National Collection so that art from our institutions here in Canberra is shared with regional and suburban galleries; extended lending rights so Australian writers are better paid; boosted funding for performing arts training organisations; provided more support for games developers through Screen Australia; improved tax breaks for the video games industry; and increased funding to Sounds Australia to unlock international opportunities for our musicians. This is all genuine reform to our arts sector to ensure that it thrives.

This bill establishes First Nations Arts as a new body. The government recognises and respects the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia's arts and culture. That's why First Nations art has been put as the first pillar of the cultural policy. First Nations Arts will be a dedicated new body to support and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice. The bill will establish a First Nations board which will oversee the work of First Nations Arts. The First Nations board will be unique in that it will have autonomy over the allocation of funds for investment in First Nations art. The government believes that First Nations Arts should be First Nations led. The board will also promote best practice in First Nations cultural protocols in the arts; provide financial assistance to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice; advise the Australia Council board on the responsibilities of First Nations Arts; and report its performance to the Australia Council board.

Since the introduction of Revive, the government has been delivering for First Nations artists. This includes providing $5 million to upgrade training facilities at the NAISDA Dance College Kariong campus; launching Australia's Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, providing a framework to guide Australia's participation in the decade; providing continued support for First Nations people to express, conserve and maintain their culture through languages and the arts, under the Indigenous Languages and Arts program; continuing to invest in First Nations arts centres, as well as pivotal sector organisations, through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program to benefit First Nations communities; and continuing to seek the voluntary and unconditional return of First Nations ancestors and cultural heritage material held overseas and domestically, particularly the return of First Nations ancestors and secret sacred objects held in eight major museums.

This bill also establishes Writing Australia. Writing Australia will be a new body to support and promote the Australian literature sector. It will be responsible for supporting authors, illustrators and publishers to create new works; investing in a network of key organisations; developing national industry initiatives; and increasing national and international markets. New technology is disrupting the landscape for writers, and there is a need for government policy to be modernised for these artists. Writing Australia has been deliberately designed to reach into the commercial sectors, where traditional grants funding models have had limited success. This body will become a policy engine for the sector, building partnerships and expertise that will both support artists directly and benefit Australian audiences. This bill demonstrates the government's commitment to improving the quality of investment in the arts sector and to strengthening and streamlining access to support, including for artists and arts organisations.

We know that, under the previous government, federal support for many artists in the country was lacking for many years. Our arts sector has, for too long, been dismissed and not received the respect it deserves. We saw this particularly during the COVID pandemic, when artists missed out on much of the support that was offered, even though the arts were such a critical part of our community getting through that really challenging time. Who could have got through the lockdowns without some of the great books to read or television series to watch or music to listen to? This was a time that made us realise just how important the arts are, in so many ways—to tell our stories, to inspire us. Through that, we realise how incredibly important artists are and that they do need the backing of federal government to ensure that they can continue to do what they do and to thrive in what they are doing—to inspire Australians and to tell our story so the rest of the world can appreciate all that we have to offer.

They're incredibly important to Australia and the Australian way of life. From Bluey to Blue Poles, from The Manfrom Snowy River to Budjerah, who we were lucky enough to see perform in the Great Hall here last night, from the much-loved Belconnen Owl to the Ouroboros, about to take its place at the NGA, art tells our stories and enriches our culture. Creative Australians who dedicate their lives to enriching our own lives with their art deserve the utmost respect and support from the government. The Revive cultural policy is key to that, and these ongoing reforms will change the way that government engages with artists and the arts forever. This bill is an important step along that journey, and I commend the bill to the House.

Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The arts are important to me, and I think they're important to all of us here. They're important to my community, in my electorate of Wills. Firstly, this is because there are so many talented local artists in my community. In fact, the suburb of Brunswick, in my electorate, has one of the highest concentrations of artists in all of Australia. But I think that the arts are more than just economic or a concentration of workers who work in the arts. A thriving arts sector is important because the arts are really the heart and soul of any society. They're the central core of any society. They play a fundamental role in our community. The creativity that comes through the arts and the artists has the power to light up our cities, light up our suburbs. The arts can really take us out of our own time and space, in some respects, so that we can reflect on other worlds, other perspectives, other human experiences and connections that are fundamental to being human. That's why the arts are so important.

Art reaches the heart and the soul, but I think it also can reach the mind. Look at the arts in Australia and the telling of Australian stories, for example. I worked at SBS before politics, and it was so important when we had NITV join SBS to be able to tell Indigenous stories so that Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians could see those stories being told on the screen. When we tell Australian stories we can see ourselves reflected back towards us, and those unique Australian stories are so special to us.

All of these benefits I've just outlined can't really be measured in traditional economic terms because there are no known metrics that can measure these intangibles—and they are intangibles and they're immeasurable in many respects. But that doesn't mean they're not important. In fact, it actually means the sense that we have and we know that the benefits—whether they be social, economic, cultural—are invaluable to us as a society. That's why the arts matter. You can't measure it in economic terms, but we actually know deep down that the impact it has on our lives and our society is invaluable. A society without the arts would not be a society; it would be something else that is alien to us. Throughout human history it has been part of who we are as human beings.

In my local electorate, I recently met with the co-CEO of Outer Urban Projects, Kate Gillick, and the general manager is David Ralph. Outer Urban Projects is an impressive arts company in the Australian community. They do arts and cultural development in the performing arts sector. They work on a platform called Unheard Voices, which tells the stories and shows the arts of communities in the north of Melbourne. As part of their work they engage culturally diverse young people from low socio-economic backgrounds within the performing arts. They also offer free workshops to people who are newly arrived and disengaged educationally and/or socially.

They told me about a production called The Audition which shares powerful stories centred around what it means to be an asylum seeker. It was inspired by two artists who were asylum seekers themselves who developed and created the work. The final shows were held last week as part of Refugee Week. This production is just one example of the way in which the arts can also be an important platform for people in our community to have their voices heard. Whether they be asylum seekers, refugees or socio-economically disadvantaged, they're able to share their thoughts, emotions and experiences in a more profound way. In a sense, through the art itself, they share what are elemental human experiences with us to connect but also to open up perspectives and see the world in different ways.

I've said the arts have always had an important place in my electorate of Wills and we saw the impact that music and the arts had in keeping us somewhat united during COVID. What would it have been like during that COVID period of lockdowns—especially with the kids around and all the rest of it—if we hadn't had some of the go-to arts and performances to keep us sane and help with our mental health but also to keep us connected as human beings? It was a very difficult period. When I said earlier that the arts are the heart and soul of any society—that came to the fore during that COVID period. It enriched our hearts, souls and minds in a very difficult period that people were struggling with and challenged by. During that challenging period, even though we went to the actual production of arts and artists, the output dropped significantly. Some 40 per cent of artists had to find work in other areas just to survive. Half the sector were also concerned about whether they had a future at all given what had happened to them and the impact of it.

Even before the pandemic, artists have struggled financially. We know the cliche of poor artists who are sacrificing everything for their work and, in a stroke of genius, are able sell a painting and suddenly become rich. They're the Hollywood stereotypes. There are so many working artists who deserve, even in the best of times, to be paid a fair wage for the work that they do, given its significance and its impact on the community. A lot of them, unfortunately, have to take multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

We saw that the coalition government for a decade sat on the Treasury benches there and consistently slashed funding for the arts. I know those opposite who might support the arts might not want to hear this, but it's true. The arts community were neglected by the previous government. They scrapped Creative Australia after they came to power in 2013 and replaced it with nothing. For many years artists had no supports in place. Our artists, who contribute so much richness to our nation, for far too long simply have not been respected. That's just a fact. This is why the Labor Party in opposition, with the shadow minister at the time and now the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, had and has a significant commitment and passion to arts and to artists. We value and elevate the contribution of the creative industries to Australia's social, cultural and economic life. They're too important to be ignored. They're too important to be neglected. As I said, their invaluable contribution to our nation cannot be dismissed. That's their importance.

This bill specifically looks to further deliver commitments made by the Albanese Labor government in the new national cultural policy, Revive. I think it's an appropriate word to use to describe the bill. This builds on the Albanese government's commitment to expand and modernise Creative Australia. As part of this, we're establishing four new bodies: Music Australia, Creative Workplaces, First Nations Arts and Writing Australia. Music Australia and Creative Workplaces were set up last year. The First Nations body will commence this year, in 2024, and Writing Australia will start in July next year.

The Albanese government respects the critical place of First Nations stories at the centre of our arts and our culture as well. That's why First Nations Arts is placed as the first pillar of our new cultural policy. Art has been an important part of Indigenous cultures for over 65,000 years, and it's essential to the wellbeing, culture and identity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. The First Nations body will support and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts practice. It will have its own board that will have autonomy over the allocation of funds for investment in First Nations art, because the government does believe that First Nations art should be First Nations led.

When I was working at SBS, as I mentioned, and NITV came on board, I remember going out to remote and regional parts of Australia and the cities of Australia to meet with Indigenous production companies and Indigenous artists who were working on film and television. That was important engagement because it was about making sure that the Indigenous stories that were being told through the platform of NITV were able to reach as many people as possible so that people could understand, be educated, value and enjoy Indigenous cultures and First Nations storytelling. I think that continues going from strength to strength today at NITV.

Writing Australia will be a new body that supports and promotes the Australian literature sector, helping to support authors, illustrators and publishers to create new works. Again, the point about telling Australian stories is of critical importance. That includes writers and illustrators being able to tell their uniquely Australian stories. Yes, there is great literature around the world, which we obviously can all access, but, when we're talking about the market and economics versus the invaluable contribution the arts makes, for me, the arts is not just an economic sector. It's too important to measure just by the economics. A lot of people say, 'We can make an argument that more people go to the NGV than the MCG.' That's great, but not all arts are commercially viable. That doesn't mean they're not important. Not all stories are going to sell millions of copies. That doesn't mean they are not important, unique and valuable or that they don't play a role in our society.

Frankly, as a social democrat, I believe that the government has a role to play not just in supporting but in creating the conditions of support for these stories to be told even if they're not commercially viable. The government plays a role in supporting artists in that respect, because otherwise some of those stories will not be told. They will disappear, and they're important for us as Australians. Writing Australia will enable investment in a network of organisations that allow the development of national industry initiatives that increase national and international markets for Australian stories as well as for writers. The government recognises that new technology is disrupting the environment for writers. We understand that. Government policy needs to be modernised to better support these artists, given this disruptive period.

The establishment of both Writing Australia and First Nations Arts are part of that larger plan when it comes to the arts. Since we launched Revive, the government has established Creative Australia to modernise arts funding and reverse what were known as the Brandis cuts at the time. I say this again: I know this is a partisan place, but the arts are not just some special plaything. It's not like the de Medicis here, where if you love ballet you can choose to only fund ballet. It doesn't work that way; it shouldn't work that way. It should work in a way where artists and performing artists and writers and visual artists and others are supported right across the board by government with independent sources of funding and not just favoured based on the particular interests of one particular political leader or the government itself.

Establishing Creative Workplaces to improve the standards and safety of workers in the arts is important. We've established Music Australia, as I said. We're sharing the national collection so that art is shared with regional and suburban galleries and gets out to the regions, which is important. We've extended lending rights so that Australian writers are better paid. Again, that goes back to those conditions and fair pay and work rights for artists as well. We've boosted funding for performing arts training organisations, and we've provided more support for games developers through Screen Australia as well. We've improved tax breaks for the video games industry as well, which is part of the creative industry.

We've increased funding to Sounds Australia to unlock international opportunities for our musicians, who are very, very successful. Tones and I was here the other day. She's had three billion hits on Spotify or whatever it was, which is a remarkable figure given that she started out in Frankston. I remember going out to Frankston. I was scared to go out to Frankston a lot of the time. It was a pretty rough neighbourhood. It's very nice now on the beach. It's a great success story—out of a tough socioeconomic area, you get this wonderful success of an Australian artist like Tones and I.

The government has a history of backing artists and backing the arts. The last two cultural policies were delivered under Labor governments. There was Creative Nation under Paul Keating and Creative Australia under Julia Gillard. Art has a powerful way of letting us experience the world around us through a different lens and different perspectives. Artists and their art give so much to our community and to who we are. We need to make sure that we give something back to the artists who are doing this work—this important creative work for our society. This bill outlines the Albanese government's commitment to improving the quality of investment into the arts. The bill is going to ensure that artists and art organisations have greater supports. The government is truly committed to bringing back respect and real tangible support to our artists and to the art sector.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.