Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that guidance. Senator Catryna Bilyk actually chaired the inquiry into that matter, so if people are offended because we are actually putting some facts on the record then I apologise that you don't like to hear the truth and you don't like transparency. Quite frankly, it is well-recorded within this chamber's contribution of the facts that over the last decade the coalition government did gut the arts sector, did not support it. We now have a minister who is committed and has consulted with the sector and has a clear vision for the future of the arts sector in this country. We believe Australian stories should be told. We believe that Australian children should know about their history, their culture. And we believe that we have the world's best artists and creativity in this country, and we're very proud of it.

We know that the coalition government slashed Creative Australia altogether, with no replacement, and they utterly failed to even acknowledge the lived experience of Australian artists for a decade. They're the facts that are now on the public record once again. Let's be very clear: the opposition should be ashamed of themselves for deliberately excluding artists from federal cost-of-living support during the pandemic. You never supported them during the pandemic, so how can you come here now and cry foul about me putting on the record what you did when you were in government?

Artists went through the toughest time, but, as usual, you come in here and you cry crocodile tears. Well, let me assure the Australian artists and the Australian arts community that that support, the support that they are now getting from the Albanese Labor government, will continue to go beyond the five years that we have budgeted for now. We actually have a minister who is embedded into the music sector, who has a real interest in artists, and we will deliver on our National Cultural Policy and its inclusive roadmap for enriching Australia's art and culture, spanning all areas of government policy—ranging from the cultural exchange in foreign affairs, to health and particularly to education and creating Australian jobs that I feel so passionately about.

I note Senator Brown, Senator Bilyk and my good friend Senator Jonathon Duniam who likes to promote my TikTok videos are here. When you are based in a beautiful state like Tasmania, and in particular in Launceston, you'll know the arts have had a profoundly positive impact on our local communities, touching the lives of Tasmanians and generating unparalleled job opportunities for aspiring artists. I dare to say that the arts sector's centre of the universe is in Launceston, in the north of the state, but it goes out across the entire state.

I am proud of the diverse, vibrant, remarkable range of creative arts content produced locally in my home community and my home state of Tasmania.