Communications and the Arts Committee

This report outlines a vision for Australia's arts sector. It was prepared in partnership with the artists of Australia. More than 300 artists and arts organisations contributed to this report. I want to thank the arts leaders and artists who spoke to us during a pandemic that had put their sector on pause. Many of them were speaking to us when they themselves had lost their jobs or had lost the ability to do what they loved, and they took the time to share with us those experiences, so that we never again leave artists on the scrapheap when we have global economic shocks.

I want to see an arts sector that is properly valued by the government during crises, during the good and during the bad, and where we don't treat arts workers as some lesser kind of worker. We can't let artists think that somehow their contribution to our economy is any less than the contribution of any other worker. What we heard from artists—as we went, virtually, around the country listening to the stories of artists—was people telling us just how tough it had been. One artist told us, 'Almost everyone I know who works in the arts has lost part or all of their work.' Another told us that 'the government did not see fit to recognise my freelance status as worthy of JobKeeper'. Something we knew from the thousands of survey responses we received throughout this inquiry is that a real concern for artists is that the government deliberately structured a wage subsidy scheme to prevent people who worked in the creative and arts sector—where people are often on short-term contracts—being able to access that scheme.

The theme of this report is pulling together the many threads to have a new national cultural plan—something to grow our nation's soul post COVID. Everywhere you look throughout this report, it's clear that there is not enough coordination, when it comes to the arts organisations and the way they interact with government and interact with venues, to truly support our arts sector or to get the most out of the very creative people we have here in Australia. What we also saw and what you see stated very clearly in this report is that there is a strong link between the arts and our economic outcomes as a country. We recognised in the report that 'cultural and creative activity is increasingly recognised as an important component to economic growth'. That was not lost on any member of the committee in putting together this report—recognising that having a strong arts sector also gives people the urge to go out and work harder so they can get to those shows, so they can experience that art and so they can support other artists.

The other piece that is seen throughout this entire report is a recognition that COVID has done long-term damage to the arts sector. It's not something we're going to snap back from. We will not bounce back and it will all be better next year. It did smash screen production. It smashed live music. COVID destroyed live performance across this country. We still don't have the ability for people to put together those world-class shows and put them on the road around this country. We know that even writers have found COVID a particularly difficult time. We know that most writers in Australia—and we have brilliant writers—support their work as writers and as artists by doing other paid work. We heard a lot about that as well: the amount that people give out of their own pocket and of their own time so they can continue to create the art and stories that we love so much. So my one request of the government with respect to this report is to take it seriously. I do feel the government did not take the arts sector seriously in 2020, and I haven't seen much evidence of improvement in 2021. But there is a strong road map in this report of how to get the arts sector back on its feet and make it a big, strong driving piece of our economy into the future.

The report recommends a national cultural plan to make sure that we integrate across local, state and federal governments, and across federal government agencies, to ensure that there is a clear series of supports for arts organisations, big and small. It recommends the investigation of the establishment of a national centre of Indigenous culture and arts. This is an idea that has been bubbling for a long time, recognising that we do not have enough institutions that tell parts of a story that is some 60,000 years and ongoing—not just the culture of the past, but also the culture of the present, the very rich Indigenous culture and arts that we see to this very day.

There is a recommendation about making sure that big international streaming companies actually make Australian content. It's not good enough for them to just take Australians' money. They need to put something back. In this report we recommend that legislation be brought forward by the government to require Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and all the rest to allocate at least 20 per cent of their local revenue on a new Australian content, telling more Australian stories—Australian drama, documentaries and children's content—and co-productions or acquisitions of Australian content. This will build the Australian screen industry, and it will mean that we capture more of our rich Australian culture on screen. I have no problem making these international streaming companies, who are incredibly profitable, fund the next Bluey, the next Neighbours, the next Home and Away or indeed the next Wonder Gang, which is a great Western Australian production.

The report also recommends placing arts at the heart of education by adding a fourth cross-curriculum priority of 'the Arts'. It recommends that there be a minimum threshold of Australian-authored literary texts in the Australian curriculum, making sure that we have Australian texts throughout schooling, from the early years to years 11 and 12. We recommend making sure we have a proper compensation system for Australian writers. The report recommends the review of programs 'to ensure that authors are being appropriately compensated for income lost through free multiple use of their books in public and educational lending libraries.' That's about making sure that, when those books are popular in libraries, the artists and writers are paid for that popularity. We want to connect international visitors with our local arts through a tourism resource for artistic events across Australia. Another recommendation that won't cost the government a cent—it might cost a little bit of their pride—is to simply put 'Arts' back into the title of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, recognising that the arts is an essential part of that department's work.

We've spoken a lot this week about the Productivity Commission and what the Deputy Prime Minister does with the Productivity Commission's reports. Nonetheless, we have recommended that the Commonwealth government direct the Productivity Commission to inquire into the legislative arrangements which govern the funding of artistic programs and activities. The other recommendation that I think is worth noting in this place is making sure that music is affordable for all Australian students—that the Office of the Arts establish a music access assistance program to make it easier for students from low-income backgrounds and regional backgrounds to pursue their musical talents.

In the minutes left to me I'll just say that Opposition members did note that we need to consult with the arts sector as part of any future wage subsidy design. We said that there needs to be an insurance scheme for the events sector. We noted that we need to properly and fully fund the ABC. We need to remove the efficiency dividend from the national collecting institutions, properly fund the Australia Council and support and help grow Australia's gaming sector.

I want to thank my fellow members of the committee, including the chairs, the member for Lyne and the member for Mallee; the deputy chairs, the member for Chifley and the member for Dobell; and my colleague the member for Macnamara, who is a strong supporter of the arts industry. I want to thank all of the arts organisations that gave evidence. We received 352 submissions. I particularly thank those who submitted from Western Australia: the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Cultural Centre, the Perth Festival, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, the City of Perth, Audio Technik, Barking Gecko Theatre, the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, the Chamber of Arts and Culture Western Australia, and Writing WA. With that, I commend the report to the House.