Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the very important report of the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts which Senator Eggleston has just tabled, after many long labours by the committee stretching over many months. Senator Eggleston, as everyone in this chamber would know, is the very distinguished chair of the committee. I would personally like to congratulate him on the leadership that he has shown in bringing the report through many tortuous shoals and finally delivering, as my remarks will show, what I think is an excellent report. I have a special interest in this report because in my previous position as Minister for the Arts and Sport I proposed that the Senate conduct this very important inquiry. On stepping down from the ministry in February this year, I was appointed to this committee—which was a rather curious development, I have to say—and was able to take part in the finalisation of the report.

In my view the committee has done its work very effectively, and I too would like to compliment my colleagues from all sides of the chamber and the committee secretariat under the leadership of Mr Ian Holland. This report provides a very important analysis, I believe, of the state of the industry and its future potential. The report starts off by suggesting that Australian Indigenous art is the story of the flowering of one of the world’s greatest contemporary movements in art. I think that is a true statement. There is no doubt that the demand for Australian Indigenous art continues to grow, both domestically and internationally. The question the committee had to address was: how can the Indigenous community, and indeed the wider community, build on this very strong base? The report makes recommendations in a range of areas concerned with arts centres and the infrastructure which is needed. It also deals with important issues such as governance and training for those arts centres and the individuals who work in them.

Amidst this great success, however, there is, as the report points out, growing concern about the sustainability of the sector and in particular the unethical business practices within it. I believe that the report has come at a crucial time in the history of the sector. It deals frankly with issues of unethical conduct and examines closely how the future of the industry, as the title of the report itself indicates, can be secured. The report makes recommendations across a wide range of areas. There is a long discussion on the issues around a code of conduct, which the report supports, increased activity for the ACCC and, of course, further education programs. The ACCC provided a very interesting submission earlier this month. This is published in appendix 4 of the report. I think the ACCC has done an excellent job in its submission for those who want to get a feeling for the complexity of this issue, the legal problems which are involved, and how we work our way through these to find the best way forward. I congratulate Graeme Samuel and his officers for the interest that they have shown. It makes the point that law enforcement is, whilst very important, only one of the strategies which need to be followed to deal with many of the issues in the sector. As I indicated, some other strategies would include education, provision of resources and infrastructure, and more support for Indigenous artists. This is in general the approach followed by the committee. The committee makes a very wide range of proposals for the sector. I believe these proposals are sensible and practical.

The funding requests which have been made in the report are appropriate. There is no doubt that we need to provide increased support for arts centres; there is also no doubt that we need to provide a significant capital program for arts centres. We need to make sure that arts centres adopt best practice. We need to assist arts centres. There are business programs which can assist arts centres to work towards a position where some of them will not need government assistance, and there are a number of very fine examples included in this report. The $25 million infrastructure fund which the report calls for will provide a significant boost to the sector. The report also calls for additional ongoing funding for arts centres.

Interestingly, one of the proposals in the report is for the establishment of a specialised arts centre in Alice Springs. This is one of the areas where the report specifies some work in progress and suggests that a proposal should be developed for an arts centre in Alice Springs that artists from the outlying areas can visit and live in in a safe and secure environment. I think such a proposal, provided it can be done with the cooperation of the major stakeholders, is very sensible. I would like to see this report moved on in a very smart and expeditious way. As I said, the funding requests are not large but they are important. They will be particularly important to the sector.

At the moment, almost every other day issues to with Indigenous communities are on the front page of our newspapers and in the first couple of items on the TV news. Indigenous arts is one of those areas where there are many good news stories, where very important things are happening. The Indigenous community can help build on Indigenous arts to provide a very important source of revenue to the artists and communities involved in the years ahead. It is important that we deal with the problems in the sector. I do not think this report will solve all those problems, but it will facilitate a significant step forward being made. We have proposed a more significant role for the ACCC. We would expect that, where criminal conduct is involved, the relevant territory and state governments become more effective in their own policing arrangements.

Government senators, including me, differed with others in a couple of areas. That is spelt out in the report and it will not come as a surprise to many people. Prior to my joining the committee, a great deal of work was done by a range of senators, and I thank them for their very conscientious work. As I said, it was a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in such an important report, which I hope will have widespread positive consequences for the future of the Indigenous arts industry. I commend the report to the Senate.