Within the Australian Labor Party’s cultural policy announcement earlier this week, Shadow Arts Minister Tony Burke noted the arts sector was recovering from a decade of “Liberal National neglect, contempt and cuts”.
But according to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, neglect has come from both the major parties in the lead up to the election.
Speaking to IF prior to Labor’s policy reveal on Monday, the arts spokesperson for the party said it had been a “damn shame” that the creative industries did not have greater prominence in the campaign.
“The artists and creative industries have been ignored by both the Labor and the Liberal parties this election,” she said.
“I think it’s an insult to those workers who got us through COVID. Where would we be if we didn’t have our creative talents in Australia entertaining us and keeping us sane during the various lockdowns?
“Let alone the fact that it was the very industry that was hit the hardest, right at the beginning.”
The Greens are hoping to address what they perceive as a lack of action toward the industry via a Creative Australia platform that includes establishing a $1billion Australian Stories Fund to support the infrastructure, crew training, and development needs of the local industry.
Hanson-Young said the idea for the fund came through a consultative process that began during the first lockdown and would include backing Australian stories through Screen Australia and the ABC.
“I just think it is shocking that the amount of hours of original scripted Australian content on our ABC has halved,” she said.
“If we can’t have original scripted works on our on the ABC then where else are we going to have it?
“So we need this bucket of money to be used for creating Australian stories, but we also need money to be available for capital works and infrastructure.”
Also on the agenda for the party is legislating a requirement for streaming services to invest 20 per cent of the money they earn from Australian subscriber in the production of Australian content, a measure the industry has made a renewed push for in the wake of the government’s proposed Streaming Services Reporting and Investment Scheme.
Hanson-Young expected streaming service regulation to be a “key issue of debate in the next government”, noting the Greens would be “pushing hard on it”.
“Every nation’s stories are unique to them and are an important part of their culture and identity,” she said.
“You’ve got other regions and countries putting similar restrictions and regulations on these big tech giants and if Australia doesn’t keep up, they just won’t invest in Australian content and they’ll be investing in the other countries where they’re required to.”
Other points of the plan include committing $100 million to a new Games Investment & Enterprise Fund, providing as-needed RISE funding for arts and entertainment workers, putting an artist-in-residence in every school and library across the country, doubling the funding to the Australia Council, establishing a multi-disciplinary Creativity Commission with $10 million a year fund, providing pandemic insurance for live events, and establish a new, multi-disciplinary arts school in Adelaide.
In regards to paying for the initiatives, Hanson-Young said the different elements had been costed through the Parliamentary Budget Office, adding the party had been “quite clear” on its position that if billionaires and corporations were taxed at the “fair rate”, there would be billions of dollars to spend on matters of “more public interest”.
According to results of the latest Newspoll published The Conversation, The Greens stand to gain 11 per cent of the primary vote in Saturday’s ballot, with the party banking on holding the balance of power in the senate.
While Labor leader Anthony Albanese has stated he is seeking to form government in his own right, Hanson-Young said there was a “very strong chance” the Greens would be in a position to not only negotiate with the next government but push them on certain issues.
“Of course, you never get everything you want but we’re putting arts and our creative workers as a top priority and there are some things that we will want early on,” she said.