Since the Albanese Labor Government came to power we’ve been rebuilding Australia’s arts and cultural sector after years of neglect during the pandemic.
As you know, cultural and creative activity in Australia is comparable in size to our Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, and Accommodation and Food Services industries.
The Albanese Labor Government understands the true value of the role that arts and culture play in Australian society. Not to mention, as a sector it contributes $63.7 billion to Australia’s economy.
In January of 2023, the Albanese Labor Government launched Revive, Australia’s first cultural policy in a decade.
It’s a comprehensive five-year blueprint that touches on all areas of government, from cultural diplomacy in foreign affairs, to health and education.
Revive is far-reaching because we understand that, ultimately, the arts intersect with every aspect of our society.
They impact the life of every Australian, without exception. Anyone who reads a book, watches a movie, goes to the theatre, listens to music, plays a digital game or visits a gallery – each person has their life enriched.
Revive has been a real game changer for Australia’s creative sector.
In just over two years, 66 of the 85 actions have been delivered.
Our government has a vision for Australia’s artists and arts workers that goes beyond mere survival.
We are providing more support, so more Australian artists can thrive and grow.
Creative Australia is the centrepiece of our government’s commitment to arts and creativity.
As a bigger, bolder version of the Australia Council, Creative Australia now has improved resources, a wider remit and continues our commitment to arm’s-length funding. It is also one body to support the government funded sector, the philanthropic sector and the commercial sector.
We did this because it’s the same workers and it’s the same audience, whether it’s funded through government, philanthropy, commercial or a mixture of all three.
Creative Australia is dedicated to Australian stories and Australian creativity in all its forms, with dedicated bodies to support our arts and culture industry.
These bodies include support to the music sector through Music Australia, a First Nations-led body through First Nations Art, to provide First Nations people with autonomy on funding decisions that affect them and, as of 1 July this year, the literature sector will also have a dedicated body to support it through Writing Australia.
We also established Creative Workplaces, chaired by Kate Jenkins, after it was made clear during the pandemic that some people, including the nation’s leaders at the time, did not regard arts jobs as real jobs.
While these bodies have had positive impacts across the country, arts sectors across the globe are facing real challenges.
There’s no quick fix to addressing the complex and ongoing issues affecting Australia’s music industry, especially music festivals. They require short-term measures and long-term goals.
That’s why we created Revive Live – dedicated grant funding to support Australian festivals and live music venues around the country. We have already provided $7.8 million in grant funding for 112 live music businesses – 63 music festivals and 49 live music venues – to create a sustainable operating environment.
The positive impact that Revive Live has had on Australia’s live music scene is clear. That’s why a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will extend Revive Live with a total investment of $25 million over the next two years, providing critical support for Australia’s festivals and live music venues.
Revive Live also has a strong focus on improving accessibility and inclusion at live music events to provide increased participation opportunities for audiences, and career pathways for musicians and arts workers with disability.
Through Revive we’ve also launched our Arts and Disability plan, Equity. It’s a four-year roadmap to build foundations of fairness and equity for our artists, arts workers and audiences.
Other innovations under the Revive umbrella include $11 million for the implementation of a First Nationals Languages Policy partnership. This partnership helps to preserve language and improve outcomes for First Nations people.
Stories give people voices. They are a tool for truth-telling and a vessel for language.
The core tenet of Revive is: ‘A place for every story, and a story for every place’.
When it comes to stories told through visual art, we have extended the Resale Royalty Scheme for artists to include resales in more than 26 countries, helping visual artists to receive a fairer share of the value of their work.
Meanwhile, our Sharing the National Collection program has seen more than 200 significant works taken out of storage at the National Gallery of Australia and proudly displayed to new audiences at 23 venues across the country.
Our government has also worked to restore the financial viability of the nine National Collecting Institutions, which have suffered from chronic underfunding for years – restoring them as a source of national pride.
We have provided more funding for Australia’s eight national arts training organisations, so they can deliver the critical training and skills development our performers and production specialists need for Australia’s live performing industry.
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government has committed to provide the funds needed to restore the South Melbourne Town Hall and return – one of our great training organisations – the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) to its rightful home.
As technology advances, so too must the arts sector.
There are some incredible digital games created right here in Australia: Unpacking, Crossy Road and Wayward Strand just to name a few. We’ve supported digital games developers through increased funding and our digital games tax offset to ensure we can continue to grow this industry.
We’ve also extended the lending rights schemes to include eBooks and audiobooks. This has seen more money flow into the pockets of Australian authors, publishers and illustrators.
Further, we want to ensure Australian artists and creators maintain their legal right to be remunerated for the use of creative work and intellectual property. The Albanese Labor Government, led by Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, remains committed to regulating artificial intelligence and we’ll continue to consult with industry to proactively address issues.
In 2013, before any streaming platforms had arrived, there were a lot of conversations about free to air quotas. I was saying then it won’t be long before people are watching the internet through their TV. We needed to get ahead of the game to be able to have a quota system there as well.
Jumping forward to today and no action was undertaken by previous Coalition Governments. However, this government has been consistently consulting with stakeholders to implement streaming quotas.
This process has been slower than we would have liked. However, we have reiterated our commitment to implementing an Australian content obligation on streaming platforms.
We have such a rich history of Australian screen content, and we want this to grow and thrive. So, we’ve increased the Location Offset to encourage large-scale screen productions to film in Australia.
Reviving Australia’s arts sector is not optional for Labor.
The work of the Australian creative sector is essential. Arts workers are real workers.
When we came to government, the sector had seen a decade of neglect from previous Coalition governments and, as mentioned above, there was a refusal to recognise arts workers during the pandemic. It was fragmented, underfunded and the central body – the Australia Council – did not provide support to the sector in its entirety.
The previous Liberal Government not only cut funding through the Australia Council, but they adopted a preference approach when it came to funding decisions. This meant that certain funding decisions – including those based on artistic merit – were to be made by the Minister of the day.
Revive has deliberately returned to the core principle of arm’s-length funding decisions for artists and arts organisations.
The Albanese Labor Government has reversed the Brandis cuts, implemented our national cultural policy Revive and has worked hard to revive Australia’s thriving arts and culture sector to what it once was.
The list of achievements is long, but we know we have more to do.
Shortly after the election, if re-elected our government will again begin consultation with the sector, to help inform Australia’s next cultural policy.
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will ensure our stories are told through all forms of art.
If we continue to get this right, we’ll see each other no matter who we are. We’ll see ourselves on stage, hear ourselves in song, read our own stories that reflect our homes in poetry, in narrative and on the screen – and, through that, we will better see ourselves. We’ll learn about each other, and it will be the way that the world comes to know us.
This opinion piece is part of a series looking at policies for the Federal Election 2025. A comparable article from The Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young can be found here.
ArtsHub has also approached the Coalition for an op-ed about its arts policy; a link to that article will be added here as it is received and published.
