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

Australia's enduring embrace of the arts and culture has entered a new era. Under the Albanese Labor government, a new national cultural policy named Revive will jump-start and revitalise the Australian arts, entertainment and culture scene for the next five years. This ambitious and comprehensive plan for the arts will empower homegrown talent to prosper, unlocking new job opportunities, including in my home state of Tasmania, as well as increasing engagement between local communities and the Australian artist. After a decade of coalition neglect, denial and delay of an effective arts policy, the Albanese Labor government's blueprint will revive purpose and a big-picture vision back into the arts.

Let's be clear. This plan will produce real-world positive results for countless hardworking Australians and their communities through investing $286 million over a four-year period in an industry that employs over 400,000 Australians and produces $17 billion for our economy. Most importantly for me, coming from Tasmania, it invests in our local economies in rural and regional areas.

This visionary outlook is the centrepiece of the Creative Australia Bill, a proposed piece of legislation that rewrites governance for the arts by re-forming Creative Australia with a relevant agenda, illustrated by its corresponding plan to establish Music Australia and Creative Workplaces.

Over the past decades, spanning back to 1975, federal support and advice for the arts has been heralded by the Australia Council. The body performs an important duty in uplifting Australian creative arts on a domestic and international level, as well as supporting the sector with industry-leading research and advocacy on its behalf.

The Albanese government is heartened to build on its long-held Labor values of supporting artists and reinforcing federal commitments to the creative industry by restoring Creative Australia in an expanded capacity. At this juncture I would just like to acknowledge the extremely hard work and leadership of Minister Tony Burke in his consultation leading up to the last election and his ongoing hard work and commitment to this important sector. Have no doubt; this bill builds on our vision for reviving Creative Australia, reversing the harmful Brandis cuts to the arts. Establishing Music Australia and Creative Workplaces will only support and grow this vital sector.

The Creative Australia Bill is the product of extensive consultation, as I said, on the ground, with Australian artists responding in over 1,200 submissions and authentic input from 14 town hall meetings held across the country while drafting a new national cultural policy. The two bodies under Creative Australia, Music Australia and Creative Workplaces, will perform essential duties that will keep our Revive plan for the arts on track.

Music Australia will provide critical support to the Australian contemporary music scene and make room for its growth, including through establishing a strategic vision for the sector, facilitating industry collaboration, funding training and skills development, and supporting the cultural exportation of Australia art.

Creative Workplaces will be the foundation of support for artists, industry workers and creative organisations in their workplaces, overseeing crucial safety standards on sets and guiding elevated matters into being appropriately addressed by the relevant mechanisms—such a stark contrast to the past decade of neglect by the previous coalition government. Further to Labor's longstanding dedication to defending workplace rights and protections in any industry, including the arts, Creative Workplaces will have the authority to set fair pay and conditions for the arts sector.

Make no mistake: federal government support for creative organisations will be contingent on following these standards rigorously and upholding the labour rights of their workers, in addition to forming these long-awaited bodies that will provide direct support for the industry and assemble a blueprint for effectively implementing the Albanese Labor government's revived plan for the arts. We are committed to keeping the direction of Creative Australia on track for the long-term future of this vital sector.

That is precisely why this bill provides for new councils to guide the work of both Music Australia and Creative Workplaces, ensuring that new services and programs are delivered effectively and with proper oversight. Our work in delivering for the arts sector, time and time again, will be done with that oversight. We will relentlessly carry out our duties in government to continue enriching Australia's vibrant, creative communities, particularly in representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural art. A completing bill will be introduced later this year that will complement this bill. After consultation with relevant communities we'll establish the First Nations and Writers Australia body within Creative Australia that aligns with the Albanese Labor government's vision for elevating Australian art.

Ultimately this bill represents a continuing and ambitious commitment to significantly improve the quality of federal involvement in every aspect of the arts sector, which will unequivocally result in wide-ranging benefits for Australian artists, arts organisations and our greater community. We are doing this work now to pave the way for immediate support for jobs and quality content for this industry. Passing this bill in the winter sittings will enable Creative Australia to start its work without delay for the benefits of the arts and artists as soon as 1 July.

Labor's lock-step support for Australian artists under its successive governments and most recently under the Albanese Labor government could not be more important after a decade of, in contrast, deliberate neglect of the arts sector by the federal coalition. The arts sector has endured years, starting under Tony Abbott's exceptionally cruel government, of successful spending cuts and has been a victim of the delusions of grandeur under the coalition—most appallingly, when former minister George Brandis shamelessly transferred more than $100 million from the Australia Council to his personal—