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

I move:

That this House notes that:

(1) the 2024-25 budget provided significant new investment in Australia's arts and cultural sector, including:

(a) $115.2 million over four years to support the long-term financial sustainability of the national arts training organisations and $36.4 million of indexed and ongoing funding from 2028-29 (including the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Australian Film, Television and Radio School, NAISDA Dance College, Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Australian Ballet School, National Institute of Circus Arts, Australian National Academy of Music and the Australian Youth Orchestra);

(b) $14.5 million to support the production of Australian children's screen content, recognising the importance of Australian children seeing themselves reflected in the stories they watch;

(c) $9.3 million to expand and enhance the National Film and Sound Archive's capacity to digitise audio-visual materials at risk of irreversible degradation; and

(d) $5.2 million to expand and develop the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Darwin Symphony Orchestra;

(2) these investments sustain the momentum that the national cultural policy, Revive has created in rebuilding Australia's cultural sector and safeguarding our cultural heritage; and

(3) the Government is delivering transformative new investment to the cultural sector after a decade of neglect and cuts by the previous Government.

I'm really proud to support the Albanese government's third budget, which sustains the momentum we built in reviving Australia's cultural sector and implementing our National Cultural Policy. Australia's eight national arts training organisations are essential to the development of a skilled and innovative creative workforce in Australia. This group, known as the ARTS8, includes the Australian Ballet School, the Australian Film Television and Radio School, the Australian National Academy of Music, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, NAISDA Dance College and the National Institute of Circus Arts as well as NIDA. NIDA and AFTRS alumni have, between them, received 16 Academy Awards, including actors Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving, costume designer Catherine Martin and directors Gillian Armstrong, Warwick Thornton, Phillip Noyce and Jane Campion. The eight schools nurture the talent and build the capacity of the next generation of artists and arts workers.

I was lucky enough to attend a performance by students from each of these institutions at an annual collaboration event not long ago, and I was astonished at what these talented young creatives are capable of. They're people who'll tell our stories on stage and screen for decades to come. The future vitality of our cultural life depends on their imagination and skill. But, sadly, the future of these organisations was left in doubt by the previous government. When we came to government, we recognised that there was a real crisis. Funding for the ARTS8 organisations had declined in real terms. After a decade of wilful neglect, a number of these schools were left at risk of collapse. That's not something that we could allow to happen. I'm particularly proud that the budget provided $115.2 million over the next four years to the ARTS8, with $36.4 million in indexed, ongoing annual funding following that.

Another important organisation that is the treasure of our audiovisual heritage is the National Film and Sound Archive. Its collection reflects our cultural identity, our creativity and our technical achievements. It cares for everything from the 1930s newsreels and vinyl records to digital games and VHS tapes of our best loved soaps. Many of its records are fragile and deteriorating rapidly; many of them are unique and irreplaceable. If they're lost, they're lost forever. Nitrate based film and images are particularly at risk, and the NFSA is in a race against time to digitise them. Some of the defining moments of our history are captured in this medium, including the earliest moving images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from as early as 1898; the world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, from 1906; film of troops embarking for deployment during the First World War; and the bodyline cricket matches.

The NFSA also provides storage for other national cultural institutions. Under the previous government, the NFSA was not adequately resourced to care for these priceless treasures. The 2024-25 budget provided $9.3 million over four years to upgrade facilities for the storage and preservation of nitrate film and images. This will double storage capacity and ensure the preservation of nitrate film and photographs for future generations to access. This investment builds on the $34 million over four years for the NFSA that was allocated in the previous budget as part of a half-a-billion-dollar support package delivered by the Albanese government to rescue our national cultural institutions from the financial crisis the previous government abandoned them to, which had put collections, jobs and our cultural heritage at risk.

The budget continues our commitments in Revive to First Nations languages. Before colonisation more than 250 First Nation languages were spoken in Australia. Sadly, fewer than that number are still spoken today as a direct result of past government policies to suppress them. Australia has one of the highest rates of language loss worldwide. We want to ensure First Nations languages are spoken for generations to come, so we're investing $53.8 million in the preservation and teaching of First Nation languages. There are many other key areas but these are some of our most important.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Victorian era art critic John Ruskin wrote in his book Mornings in Florence, in 1875:

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts—the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last.

Indeed, the hallmark of civilisation is predicated on the development of arts and culture within a complex society. But all too often governments neglect this critical element of society, instead focusing on the bread and circuses of large sporting complexes—which are important too.

We need to make sure we don't neglect the arts. It's therefore pleasing that the 2024-25 budget provides significant new investment in Australia's art and cultural sector. The electorate of Mayo, my electorate, has a thriving community art scene encompassing music, song, dance, theatre, sculpture, visual arts, painting and poetry. We have over 30 art venues and more than 20 community based art groups in Mayo such as Inkpot Arts, Stirling Players, Yankalilla Youth Theatre, Hills School of Theatre Arts, Stirling Community Theatre, Adelaide Hills Performing Arts Centre, Adelaide Hills Arts, Rockit Performing Arts, Theatre Bugs, South Coast Choral and Arts Society, Fleurieu Dance Collective and Laughing Llama Dance and Drama, just to name a few.

Preserving our cultural history is equally as important as creating an environment for cultural development. A great example of this is in Mayo: the Willunga branch of the National Trust of South Australia, which manages four heritage buildings and runs several programs. One of these programs is the Bassett Boys Schoolroom tour, which provides a unique learning experience for primary school students from reception to year 3 with a range of interactive activities. The activities are undertaken in the state heritage listed, single gabled schoolroom built of local freestone with a slate floor.

South Australia has a long history of supporting the arts. In 1998 we established the South Australian Living Artists Festival, known as SALA, to celebrate visual artists and their work. The annual SALA event, held every August, brings art to the people, creating exhibitions in small businesses, art galleries and public spaces. In 2024 more than 600 venues were involved in the event and more than 9,000 artists participated. In Mayo more than 140 exhibitions took place, and everyone in our community got involved.

Of all the arts, I believe the one that binds us most closely together is that of music. In the words of the great philosopher Plato, 'Music is the medicine of the soul.' Music taps into the very essence of what it is to be human. It can make us laugh, can make us cry or can make us be inspired. Put simply, nothing influences our emotions more than music. Live music venues provide musicians and patrons with the opportunity to share experiences and musicians with the opportunity to hone their art. Such venues encourage socialisation in a world where we are becoming more socially distant through the digitisation of life.

Arts and culture form the intricate cultural mosaic of our nation. Without it we would be soulless, and society would be devoid of any meaning. I very much support this motion and look for this and future governments to make sure that we always invest in art and culture. I applaud the great work being done with respect to funding the arts, and I look forward to the enormous creativity in the future and to what will happen in my community. It is a joy to attend SALA exhibitions and plays and to see young people perform on the stage for the very first time in their lives. I commend the motion.

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

I thank the member for Macquarie and the government's special arts envoy for bringing on this motion. The creative economy—and I will talk about it in terms of economy first—makes up seven per cent of our total GDP. That means $1 of every $14 is generated in the culture and arts sector. It employs 2.7 per cent of our Australian population. That's 1.5 times the entire population of Tasmania. The arts supports our tourism industry—an industry only slightly less valuable to the Australian economy than agriculture. According to the figures from 2017, almost half of all tourists in Australia engaged with culture and the arts. Coming from the state of MONA, I can tell you that's absolutely true.

With that being said, the point of arts and culture isn't just to generate money. The arts entertains us, educates us and, most importantly, provides insight into who we are. Sometimes it makes us laugh; sometimes it makes us cry. At its best, it makes us ask the hard questions of ourselves. The arts provides us a shared Australian identity. It gives us national pride. Australia is the unique fusion of immigrants and of the oldest living continuous culture in the world. That's worth engaging with, and that's encapsulated in our arts sector.

It's for this reason I'm very proud to speak on the member for Macquarie's motion as a member of the Albanese Labor government. Our government is channelling $144.2 million into Australia's cultural sector, we've published Revive, and work is ongoing. $115.2 million is going towards the national arts training organisations. This sector group includes the Australian Ballet School, the Australian National Academy of Music and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Some of these organisations are the most prestigious not just in Australia but on the planet. They have trained directors, musicians, dancers and all manner of cultural roles. Thanks to the funding, they'll be doing it long into the future.

There's no easy way to say this, and I hope I don't bring the House down, but the fact is the coalition government—when it was around—tried to kill Bluey. The ABC is responsible for the majority of Australian children's programming, including Australia's favourite blue dog. But, under the former Liberal government, the ABC were subject to egregious cuts. The Albanese Labor government wants Australian children to watch programs that reflect them and their world. We want programs where kids can see people on TV that look and sound like them. To this end, we are providing $14.5 million to the Australian Children's Television Foundation. This ensures funding security for the ABC for the next five years and reinstates its indexation. We are cleaning up the mess of the former government in this area.

Last year, the Australian Labor government allocated $34 million to the National Film and Sound Archive. This year, we're adding on an extra $9.3 million. The member for Macquarie spoke beautifully about the importance of this archive. It covers everything from Australia's earliest films of the 1890s up to video games from the modern era, and it's not an easy task. Many of the films on file are nitrate based film, need to be kept in the cold and the dark and require very careful handling. The funding will go towards extending and improving their storage facilities. This means, as a nation, we can retain pieces of heritage like the first moving pictures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the first feature film and footage of our troops heading abroad in the First World War. We all remember the story before the last election of the National Gallery not even having enough money to keep leaks from the roof hitting the floor. It was just incredible. These repositories of the Australian story were just starved for funds under the former government.

The Australian government is also providing $5.2 million to support our orchestras in the territories. It is hard to believe that, over the 10 years of their government, the Liberals did not provide a single cent towards these orchestras. The magic of music and, particularly, classical music can just be such a driving force for change when kids hear classical music for the first time and hear it in their own communities. Almost half of all the music played by these orchestras is Australian in origin, with eight per cent by First Nations composers and 28 per cent by female composers. We've got a lot of work to do and a lot of mess to fix up, but we're well on the way to telling Australian stories, and that's what we do.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macquarie for this motion and for visiting my electorate last year to attend my arts and culture roundtable in her capacity as the Special Envoy for the Arts. The roundtable was an opportunity for my local arts and entertainment community in Indi to learn how to benefit from the government's national cultural policy, Revive. Regional Australia deserves to play a leading role in our national arts scene after so many years of being an understudy to the arts scenes of the major cities. The roundtable was attended by more than 70 people from across Indi, including the border's Flying Fruit Fly Circus. I've long advocated for the Fruities, as they're affectionately known, and I was thrilled to see the circus school awarded $7.3 million in the government's most recent budget. Such an investment in our regional performing arts sector is a testament to the incredible work of the teachers, students, parents and supporters of this unique regional arts institution.

Indi has a highly engaged and talented arts community with performers, visual artists, musicians, teachers, museum curators, creators, producers—the lot. They attended that roundtable last year. What we heard from them was that our thriving arts and cultural scene is held back from realising its creative and economic potential because investment in the arts has been in decline for many years. We heard loud and clear at the roundtable that regional Australia needs investment in cultural infrastructure and arts precincts to attract the best talent to perform and exhibit their work in local galleries, theatres and public spaces.

The Benalla Art Gallery has a creative vision to be a world-class gallery on the shores of Lake Benalla, close to the heart of the CBD. Benalla is known for its incredible street art festival that transforms the regional city into an open-air gallery of murals by world renowned street artists. I was delighted that the Benalla Art Gallery was awarded more than $2.9 million in federal funding in May this year towards its redevelopment and expansion under the Growing Regions Program. I was pleased to support and advocate this funding, which will go a long, long way to bringing to life the vision of the Friends of the Benalla Art Gallery, who also attended the roundtable last year.

Having lived in Wangaratta for more than 35 years, I have very fond memories of the annual Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues. With the prospect of the festival wrapping up, a new community group rallied to take the festival forward, and, by May this year, more than $40,000 in crowdfunding had been achieved, demonstrating the appreciation and fondness the community has for this iconic festival. Then, in June this year, the festival organisers secured more than $52,000 from the federal government's Festivals Australia program. That's a significant boost to support a free daytime outdoor stage and interactive art installation. Funding from both the community and the federal government will breathe new life into and revitalise this fantastic festival.

Artistic expression and participation in and enjoyment of cultural institutions, festivals and events enhance the prosperity of our regional communities and the health and wellbeing of people of all ages. Regional arts communities provide inclusive spaces for young creatives to express ideas, explore their passions and learn more about themselves. Even as a young adult, I learnt much about myself from joining a local theatre company, the Wangaratta Players. I learnt that, when it comes to the theatre, my role is really just to make up the numbers! While acting may not be my forte, I am enthusiastic about supporting local theatre, from the professional productions of Wodonga's Hothouse Theatre to the community run extravaganzas of the Mansfield Musical and Dramatic Society. Thank you to all the passionate community members who work to protect and promote the arts in our region.

As the member for Indi I am proud of how our regional communities showcase our unique arts and cultural experiences. I look forward to continuing to work with the member for Macquarie and the government to strengthen regional Australia's arts sector and protect our cultural heritage. Regional arts communities like those in Indi are waiting in the wings, ready for their turn to truly shine in the national spotlight.

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

Thursday morning was one of the more peaceful and inspiring starts to the day that I've had in this place. I had the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful performance by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra's string quartet. The Canberra Symphony Orchestra are one of the great classical music groups in my electorate, and they will celebrate their 75th anniversary next year. I was pleased to join the Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher, to announce an extra $4.1 million for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra in May, before the federal budget, with an ongoing $1.3 million each year as a sustainable funding model. It has long been known that the CSO have been chronically underfunded, particularly over the 10 years of the previous government.

I have seen firsthand the work that the Canberra Symphony Orchestra undertakes. They are known for their diversity of programming, performing work by 45 per cent Australian composers, eight per cent First Nations composers and 28 per cent female composers, which is more than any other major orchestra in Australia. They also run important community programs such as Painting with Parkinson's, Diverse abilities and Heartstrings as well as programs in aged-care homes around the territory. These are critical community music events around Canberra, and they really help people to experience the music. I am so proud to have the Canberra Symphony Orchestra in my electorate, and I'm proud to be part of a government that is adequately funding them and allowing them to thrive. I'm also proud that our government has committed $5 million to revitalising the Gorman Arts Centre in my electorate, which is a vibrant hub for Canberra artists and will be celebrating its centenary this year.

Our Minister for the Arts is passionate about ensuring that Australia's arts sector gets the funding it needs to thrive, and our special envoy, the member for Macquarie, is certainly leading the charge for better recognition of community arts. With these passionate members of parliament at the helm of our arts policy, it's no wonder that the Albanese Labor government has invested heavily in the local arts sector.

For arts to continue to thrive in Australia, we must have a strong arts workforce. This means investing in national arts training organisations, including those within the ARTS8 group. This includes the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Australian Film Television and Radio School, NAISDA Dance College, the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, the Australian Ballet School, the National Institute of Circus Arts, the Australian National Academy of Music and the Australian Youth Orchestra. Our government values these organisations because of the importance of nurturing and recognising young creative talent to be able to get Australians to see Australian stories on screen and on the stage.

In the last budget, the Albanese Labor government committed an additional $115.2 million over four years to support the long-term financial sustainability of the national arts training organisations. A further $36.4 million in indexed, ongoing annual funding will be provided to these organisations from 2028-29 to ensure the viability of these organisations well into the future. This will allow for future great Australian talent like ARTS8 trained Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving to study and develop their craft.

Our most recent budget also provides $14½ million to the Australian Children's Television Foundation to support the creation of Australian children's screen content. As a parent of small children, I know how important that is. The foundation has funded iconic television shows like Round the Twist and Dance Academy. Continuing to provide funding to the foundation means that children in Australia will be able to watch shows that have been created just for them.

Our treasury of Australia's audiovisual heritage, the National Film and Sound Archive, has also received funding in the most recent federal budget. Their collection goes from film from the 1890s to digital games and reflects our cultural identity and technical achievements. The Albanese Labor government has provided the National Film and Sound Archive with $9.3 million over four years to upgrade and extend their facilities for the storage and preservation of nitrate film and images.

Investment in the arts is investment in the cultural preservation and development of Australia, and I'm proud that we're committed to funding it, including right here in my community of Canberra. Canberra is a community that really values the arts, and I was so pleased to make those announcements I mentioned as part of an Albanese Labor government that recognises the importance of arts for every Australian.

Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also thank the member for Macquarie for bringing this motion to the House. Arts and culture are important to help build a society that enables the mind to question and stay curious. The arts encompass all aspects of the human condition, from how we eat and how we engage with each other to how we find meaning and value in life. Whilst the natural sciences lead us towards answers to the question of 'How?', the arts seek to explore the question of 'Why?'

The arts play a crucial role in my diverse electorate of Fowler. They provide many in my community with a platform to share the richness of their culture. It allows them to maintain a sense of where they are from and encourages them to explore their creative skills as they struggle to settle into a new society. From Serbian and Croatian folkloric dancing to the Vietnamese fan and hat dances, and from Arabic dabke line dancing to candombe at the Uruguayan club, Fowler is rich in cultural celebration, and celebrating our cultures of origin helps open connections between us all.

I was pleased, therefore, that two of Fowler's arts based projects received the government's four-year investment, namely CuriousWorks and Powerhouse Youth Theatre. CuriousWorks has been investing in and nurturing artists across multiple disciplines since 2005. They provide a space for artists to explore diversity and to see how ideas and identity intersect in our contemporary multicultural landscape. Powerhouse Youth Theatre in Fairfield is the only professional theatre company in Western Sydney. They play a crucially important role in both developing the artists of the future and training the next generation of production and backstage staff. In particular, they are providing a space to encourage culturally and linguistically diverse artists to express their own stories. They stand in the long tradition of allowing complex contemporary issues to be explored through drama and creative expression. For our young people in Fowler, of whom many have come from war-torn countries and are seeking answers to the questions of who they are, this is a vital service.

While I welcome the investment in these two important arts providers, I want to acknowledge that this is not the end of the journey towards investments in the arts in Western Sydney. Our region faces unique challenges in terms of language barriers, accessibility and financial limitations. I urge the government and the minister to not only maintain investment in the arts in Western Sydney but also look for areas where access to funding may be enhanced. Cost-of-living pressures inevitably reduce the role of individual philanthropy and private investment in the arts. The use of taxpayer money is so important, because it would be hard to imagine some of our amazing institutions, such as our symphony orchestras and ballet schools, existing without this funding.

I have spoken before of rejecting a purely utilitarian approach to public policy. That is why I have called for the government to review the Morrison government's Job-ready Graduates Package. This package has seen an increase in the fee costs of arts degrees in an attempt to shoehorn students from STEM subjects. While we all understand the benefits of STEM graduates and appreciate the higher wages on offer for them, this approach has potentially discriminating implications, given that women are much more likely to study arts degrees—and I did study an arts degree. It fails to face the reality that students choose areas of study that they are good at and are interested in. That's why arts students have continued to enrol, despite the increasing personal financial cost implications. This is a fundamental problem that needs addressing urgently.

Without investment in the arts and culture, we are at risk of becoming a nation devoid of poets, artists, filmmakers—of which I was one—writers and important voices in how we think about human relationships and ethical questions—questions that often arise from scientific and technological advances. STEM needs the arts if we are to harness the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of advances in AI and medical possibilities, for example.

As I said earlier, the arts are the way that we seek to answer the deepest questions as to why we are here and to find purpose and meaning in our lives. The artistic endeavour helps us write and share our stories with one another, fostering understanding and community spirit. Investment in the arts is an investment in the future. I look forward to working with the government in discussing future plans for the creative sector in my electorate and exploring how we can further collaborate to ensure the sustainability of arts projects in Fowler.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.