Thursday, 28 October 2021

 Ms SANDELL (Melbourne) (18:14): (6122) My adjournment is to the Minister for Creative Industries. We are now finally reaching the light at the end of the long lockdown tunnel, thank goodness, and I am sure all Melburnians are incredibly pleased with our vaccination rates and that this means we are now able to get back to a more normal life. But there is a particular group of people and industries that have suffered immensely during lockdown and that will take a little longer to recover, and that is our arts, events and live entertainment sector. So today I am asking the Minister for Creative Industries to commit to fund a substantial new arts program in Melbourne’s CBD and surrounds.

The arts provide fuel for our soul. They also provide jobs for countless Victorians. Melbourne is, after all, supposed to be the creative capital of our nation, yet for too long the arts has not received the support that it needs to thrive. It is often overlooked, while things like racing, football, the grand prix or other events are often well looked after. It has been said many times now, but event and creative workers have had an incredibly rough time during the pandemic. They were the first sector to have to close and will be the last to fully reopen due to often needing large crowds to be viable. It is also a sector that has been less able to jump into the brief windows between lockdowns, because events take months to organise.

The sector is very grateful that last Sunday they finally received some certainty as to when density limits will be relaxed so that theatres, cinemas, live music and events will be able to get started properly again, and that is wonderful. But they have lost a lot over the last two years, which is why I am suggesting that now is the time for the government to fund a large new program of festivals, events and arts for Melbourne’s CBD. It will not only help our arts and creative workers but also bring people back to the CBD for unique experiences they cannot get anywhere else. I suggest this should not just be a one-off event, festival or grant program but should be a program that funds festivals, events and arts organisations with certainty for at least the next three years so they do not need to worry about surviving off year-to-year funding as so many of them do. And I suggest we need a step change in how and how much we fund the arts.

We know that our creative sector is resilient. They will be back. They cannot wait to be back in fact; our artists will never stop creating. But governments should not take this for granted. I acknowledge that this Victorian government is already taking some excellent steps to support arts and entertainment, and I am very well aware that the federal Liberal government is missing in action, like they are on many issues. But there is room for Victoria to do more.

Last week a lot of the creative sector was dismayed by the comedy of errors that left entertainment venues confused about the opening road map. Initially information from the Premier said they could open for 20 people indoors, but then it was clarified that this excluded entertainment venues like theatres. For Comedy Republic in the city this meant eight shows had to be cancelled. As Kyran Wheatley from Comedy Republic put it, he is worried that it shows the amount of respect that governments have for live performance. I understand the government has a lot to think about and navigate during this next period, but I really hope to see that serious thought and attention is given to the soul of our city, the arts, as we open back up.