Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Ministers statements: creative industries

Colin BROOKS (Bundoora – Minister for Industry and Advanced Manufacturing, Minister for Creative Industries) (14:44): Victoria’s creative industries are a $41 billion part of our state’s economy. We know that Victoria’s cultural offering is a big part of who we are and why tourists come to visit, supporting some 288,000 jobs in the visitor economy, whether it is our festivals – the fringe, the comedy festival, Midsumma, jazz, the Rising festival – or the hundreds of arts and cultural organisations that make our state great. We are also home to one of the great theatre districts of the world, and the jewel in the crown of course is the much-loved Melbourne arts precinct.

We are supporting a $1.7 billion investment to refurbish the State Theatre and build a new contemporary gallery, the NGV Contemporary Fox, a stunning drawcard with 13,000 square metres of display space. All of these institutions are to be linked by an 18,000-square-metre public garden to be known as Laak Boorndap. There has been incredible philanthropic support and generosity for this project as well, and I thank those who have made generous donations. This project will create some 11,000 construction-related jobs through the project. Last week I and the member for Albert Park had the opportunity to meet a young woman, Connie, from Melbourne’s northern suburbs, who is one of 100 apprentices and trainees on that job. She is studying civil construction, and she loves that job. Of course, when completed, it will be a massive cultural drawcard, one of the best cultural precincts in the world.

Yesterday I joined the member for Yan Yean at Hazel Glen College – she is away today – to see students rehearsing for the school’s production of Rock of Ages. I am sure that many of these talented students will go on to add to the 327,000 people who already work in our creative industries. These are all great jobs, backed by the Allan Labor government.