Wednesday, 17 June 2026

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (17:43): I move:

That the petition be taken into consideration.

It was with shock that as Shadow Minister for Arts and Creative Industries I learned that a series of organisations have had their funding sliced by this government. This occurred largely in the week before Christmas. The announcement was made quietly, through phone calls in most cases. One of the key organisations that had its funding sliced, reduced by 100 per cent as of 30 June this year, is Writers Victoria. Victoria will now be the only mainland state without funding for a writers organisation to support writers, and the move will threaten jobs, programs, access to opportunities and indeed, in my view, the very survival of Writers Victoria in the longer term. These cuts, these decisions are harsh and unjustified. They are inconsistent with Melbourne’s position as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, City of Literature.

What has happened here is a series of cuts that have been implemented by this government without a proper process. We have asked to see the process. We have asked through an FOI. The government is fighting that FOI. There will be a hearing on 17 August, but the government has refused to process the FOI until the court meets. I say they have got a lot to hide and that is why they will not come clean on what has happened here. It is not clear whether the orders came from above. It is not clear whether this was Claire Febey and the decision-makers at Creative Victoria, but what I would say is Creative Victoria is in chaos. It is making a series of unsatisfactory decisions. The decision to cut regional galleries, in my view, is a big mistake too. And both of the two reviews that have been ordered – one for peak bodies and the other for regional funding – are secretive and not clear in their objectives and in my view also unfortunate, because in a number of cases the cuts have already started with those organisations. In the case of galleries, McClelland, Shepparton, Castlemaine, the Jewish gallery, Linden – all of these galleries have had their funding sliced, and others are apparently on the block too.

Writers Victoria is an exemplary organisation with a history dating back to the 1980s that assists so many people across Victoria to lift their capacity to become writers and actually professionalises people and enables people to have the skill set to contribute artistically and creatively in a way that we should all be proud of. It is just bizarre that the government would cut an organisation like this. When we asked questions at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee – and Mr Puglielli also asked questions – there were no good or satisfactory answers: ‘Oh, there are a lot of applications.’ Organisations like Writers Victoria have been faithfully and sensibly funded for decades now, and the idea that you would, without proper process, without proper assessment, actually just slice the funding I think is completely and utterly unacceptable.

This is a nasty government. It is a harsh government. It is a government that is actually making these cuts without proper process. I say it is time we stood up, and I am certainly prepared to stand up and fight. I hope the new minister looks more carefully at this than the previous minister. I hope she looks at this and says, ‘Actually, this is wrong. It is a mistake. It is an error, and it ought to be corrected.’ There is no reason why the new minister could not correct this. There is no reason. There is enough waste and incompetence that is visited in Creative Victoria for her to find some of these costs to actually make sure that funding is restored for a number of organisations. Why is it that Victoria will be the only state without its peak writers body being funded in some modest way? Some of these cuts just have a very harsh and unsatisfactory feel and ring to them.

I do not know what the government is trying to achieve. That is why we have FOI-ed them on this set of funding decisions. What was the matrix that they looked at? Which groups of advice did they accept? Who decided that organisations like Writers Victoria would be defunded? There is no line of sight of this. There is no logic. It is a harsh decision. It should be reversed, and it is a decision that does us no credit given the cultural and economic significance of writing in our state.

 Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (17:48): It is very interesting that Mr Davis stands here and talks about cuts when we know the Liberals have $40 billion of cuts planned should they have the opportunity in this state. We have seen it before when they have been in government. A Labor government will always support the arts, and we will always support those that work within them. We think of the cuts that you have committed to, the cuts to the public servants. And what would that mean, Mr Davis? What would that mean for the Wheeler Centre? What would that mean for ACMI? What would it mean for VicScreen, for the Geelong performing arts centre, for Melbourne Recital Centre, for Museums Victoria, for the NGV, for the state library or for the arts centre? I think Victorians know what that would mean should a Liberal government have the opportunity.

David Davis interjected.

Tom McINTOSH: We have had a competitive process, Mr Davis. I think it does not matter what part of society we look at over time, whether it is in tourism or whether it is in other sections, we have different parts of our community from populations of community that have different ideas, new ideas and new emerging people, and the government should look at different people with different ideas and give those people a go. You talk about how it was done by phone calls. A phone call is probably the most respectful way that a message can be communicated – not just leaving it out. The fact is that an extra six months of funding was provided to recognise the contribution Writers Victoria has made over a number of decades and the role it has played in the careers of Victorian writers and to recognise and value the contribution writers make to Victoria. Whilst Writers Victoria were unsuccessful in the latest round of the open and competitive creative enterprises program, we acknowledged this was a challenging outcome for them and provided an additional six months of funding to help them plan their next steps.

Now through the latest round of the creative enterprises program we are investing in a range of organisations with a focus on literature, including the Melbourne Writers Festival, Emerging Writers’ Festival, Kids’ Own Publishing and Express Media. Beyond this program, we provide ongoing investment, as I mentioned before, with the Wheeler Centre and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, including with the most valuable writers prize in the country, and we support a range of writers and literary projects through the Creative Projects Fund. We have also funded Blak & Bright, Australia’s leading First Peoples literature organisation.

In our Creative State 2028 strategy we have committed to developing a statewide Victorian literature strategy in partnership with the Wheeler Centre. This will include consultation with the sector to understand and address opportunities, challenges and the best ways we can support a thriving literary scene and the careers of writers across the state into the future. We know the Wheeler Centre plays a unique role in providing support and opportunities for our literature sector. Other states do not have a Wheeler Centre, meaning interstate peak bodies need to play more of a role in filling the gaps in support. We fund the Wheeler Centre, the home of books, writing and ideas. It is the only place in Australia like it, providing comprehensive services and leadership for the literature sector, including professional and creative development programs like the Hot Desk fellowships and Next Chapter fellowships, and providing advocacy for promoting the literature sector.

I spoke with my colleagues this morning just about how valued the arts and the arts community are to all of us in the Labor Party and the Labor government and how that is expressed within community. I remember, Mr Davis, there was an Economy and Infrastructure Committee inquiry into the arts. My colleagues and I attended all the hearings and heard all the evidence, and my recollection is it was members from your side that failed to turn up and avail themselves of the evidence and the information that we heard. So I am very confident in the fact that members of the Labor government –

David Davis interjected.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): I heard that one clearly, Mr Davis. I think you had better retract that.

David Davis: I retract that he is a goose.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): No, Mr Davis.

David Davis: I retract.

Tom McINTOSH: I am glad that after three decades in this place Mr Davis’s biggest contribution is to make commentary like that.

The Labor government and the Labor Party, through their decades of commitment to the arts community and artists within our community, will stand by them going forward.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:53): I rise on behalf of my Greens colleagues to speak with respect to this petition that has been brought before us today. I want to acknowledge from the outset the importance of petitions like this for community members to put matters on the public record, to speak truth to power and to call out things that have happened in the community. In this case it is with respect to Writers Victoria, and I want to acknowledge them for the role they have played over many years in mentoring and supporting emerging writers across our community.

As Mr Davis earlier highlighted, during the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee budget estimates process recently, there was the opportunity to ask questions of the minister and department officials with respect to these matters, and on behalf of my Greens colleagues that was my role. I have actually brought some of the transcript here with me today. There really was quite a telling exchange with respect to what has happened with Writers Victoria. I asked about this creative enterprises program under which Writers Victoria has received funding and I asked about the rationale for reduction in duration of agreements that were reached within that program, and I was told that that was due to increasing flexibility – to make it more flexible to fund people for less duration of time. We were told that there was an increase on previous years in applications and that it is a competitive process. We are talking about Writers Victoria, an arts organisation that has been funded since the 1980s, an absolute institution of our community, having to compete for funding against other organisations.

Really, as a former artist before being a politician, one of the worst things about the way that we do funding in these areas in this state is that you are having to go into a bloodbath just to secure funding for a future period of time to do the work that you do, which should be respected by all members of our community – or a lesser period of time in this particular case. We heard about the competitiveness of that grant round and that that was the reason Writers Victoria did not receive funding. We were told about the absence of a CEO. We were told about membership decline of Writers Victoria. But what we absolutely did not hear is that this is an arrangement under which the government can keep a lid on how much they spend on the arts. It is a refusal to fund the arts with the amount that is actually needed to ensure that every organisation that is doing that hard work in our community, telling Australian stories, gets funded the amount that they truly deserve. We actually also heard that having been previously funded is not a consideration in terms of who receives support under this program, which is devastating, actually, when you think about it. These are quite telling statements from the government about how they approach funding the arts.

Arts funding – the stability of that funding, the long-term nature of that funding – is core to ensuring that the programs that are delivered by groups like Writers Victoria are viable. If they cannot plan for the future when they are going to have that funding coming through, then how can we expect them to live up to the promise of what they hope to present to the Victorian people, just as they have done for decades, since the 1980s? The stories that we tell each other and that we tell the world say who we are as a people, who we are as a state, and these exchanges through the accounts and estimates hearing proceedings really demonstrate a loss of soul in our community. I think we all have pride as Melburnians that this is a city of the arts. We all celebrate it. But we heard government members stand up here today and rattle off other programs, other organisations that are receiving funding, not this one, as though that is an adequate response to cuts to groups like Writers Victoria. It is galling, and if you say it to any artist, they will appreciate you cannot point to another organisation that is getting funding, not yours, as if that is an adequate response.

Writers Victoria should be getting absolutely every cent that it deserves, and it is really sad if we are in an environment where we are having to claw back funds from the arts due to the state of our budget circumstances or whatever it is. The stories that we tell do not get told if you do not fund them, so I truly hope that the government takes heed of this petition that is brought before us. I hope in taking note of it tonight that that makes the message resoundingly clear to members of the government that they need to restore funding to Writers Victoria so they can do the important work that they do, so that these stories can be told. With that, I commend the petition to the house.

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:58): I also rise to support this petition to restore funding for Writers Victoria. I think that getting nearly 11,000 signatures is a huge achievement. It is a big effort, and it deserves the attention of the government – not just some backbenchers but actually government ministers. The Allan Labor government, through Creative Victoria, announced that instead of having $600,000 over four years it is going to take it to zero overnight – nothing. We have heard from the Greens the story of how this has happened, but it simply does not justify it. I think the fact that a petition can come forward with so many signatures speaks volumes. But we know that this Labor government is all about the cuts. That is what they are all about. They talk about cuts all the time. They try to project it onto other people, but the reality is that is what they are all about: ‘Let’s just cut all the services. We’ve got no money. We’re going to have a $200 billion deficit that we are heading towards, and yes, we’re just going to keep cutting everything.’

Things like writing are an opportunity for people to express themselves in difficult times. What else is really concerning is that it is really inconsistent, given that Melbourne’s position is that it is a UNESCO City of Literature. I just do not see how we are really supporting literature if we are going to make this cut to Writers Victoria, and I do think that we should be reversing this decision.

As a former VCE English teacher, I am proud to support and advocate for writers in Victoria today and to fight for the funding that supports writing and literature developed in Victoria through Writers Victoria. I would like to acknowledge the current CEO Jill Brown of Writers Victoria for her advocacy and work on this petition and all those who have got alongside her to make this happen. I think it was a great effort by Victorian writers, English teachers, potentially, and anyone else who supports developing literature and literary skills in this state.

What is a writer? We could be just talking about career or professional writers, and we know that Writers Victoria does a lot to support these people who are professional, who are making a living as career writers, and they are certainly supported through Writers Victoria. But in the words of the CEO Jill Brown, as noted in the Conversation on 23 January this year – and I appreciate her definition – a writer is ‘someone who feels passionately about writing and words’. As a former teacher, I know that words matter. As a result of the world’s longest accumulative lockdowns in the City of Melbourne, primary writing instruction of course was negatively impacted. Thanks to parents, though, who worked diligently with their children in some of the homes of Victoria and the schools that also found ways to support students, particularly through devices for those that had them, some of our literary skills have remained somewhat resilient.

Literary skills are very important, and if the Labor government made a commitment to being a literary city with UNESCO, it now needs to back its words with action. But this is what we get with the Labor government that failed to deliver the Commonwealth Games and failed to deliver a single Big Build within its budget. This is a government that is simply an embarrassment around the world. Writers centres go beyond their 10,000 nationwide memberships. Victorians know we need to support our writers. We need to support writers and writing programs.

Writers Victoria supports the disabled writers in Victoria as well with the Writeability program. In fact they won an accolade in Victoria for this, and yet we have cut their funding. I had the privilege once of teaching a particular student who stood out to me who was severely disabled and blind and struggled to speak. Her condition was deteriorating, but she found a way through means of support to write some of her story. Her writing and communication helped to develop empathy and human understanding and to create an environment for genuine inclusivity, and I remember Zoe today.

Writing has the power to create; it has the power to destroy. We know that sticks and stones can break our bones, but let me say that words really can hurt someone. As a relatively new member of Parliament, I say that words and writing are here in this chamber, and that is what drives our system. We know it is important, and we need to support groups like Writers Victoria. There are many private organisations that have sprung up, but this one needs to continue.

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:03): I rise to support Mr Davis’s petition – a petition that opposes the cuts to Writers Victoria’s funding that has been signed by around 11,000 Victorians. That is why it qualifies for debate in this house, because it has been signed by so many Victorians. That support for this petition shows how much support there is for Writers Victoria and for the arts in in Victoria.

Last week, together with Mr Davis, I actually attended the Public Galleries Association of Victoria AGM, which was held at the Shepparton Art Museum in Greater Shepparton. What we know is that the arts industry is a sector that defines Victoria’s cultural identity and contributes more than $40 billion to the Victorian economy. So it beggars belief that this government has made such deep, mean and targeted cuts to the arts industry. The public galleries association is a critical body that supports our public galleries with training and specialist knowledge, but it has been defunded entirely. All of its funding has been cut by this government under their deep, mean and targeted cuts. It goes further than that in regional Victoria. We have galleries that really contribute to our local communities and to the culture in country Victoria. The Shepparton Art Museum, where we were last week, is a magnificent facility. It currently has on display the Degas to Picasso exhibition, which is filling the gallery. It is at capacity every weekend. Later in the year the Archibald will be displayed at the Shepparton Art Museum. This is a building that has had $50 million of public funds – local government, state government and federal government contributions – contributed to it in just the last few years, yet it is on the list of public galleries that are going to have their funding cut.

There are six public galleries that once received four-year funding from the creative enterprises program that have had their funding slashed to two years. There is no certainty for these galleries going forward. Those six galleries are the Castlemaine Art Museum, East Gippsland Art Gallery, Jewish Museum of Australia, Linden New Art, McClelland sculpture park and the Shepparton Art Museum. Two of those are in my electorate: the Castlemaine Art Museum and the Shepparton Art Museum. These are important facilities in regional towns that not only contribute to the culture of those towns but bring an enormous amount of visitation to our area and provide jobs and contributions to our economy. They fill our motel rooms on the weekend when people come up to visit these magnificent exhibitions that they put on.

This is just a really short-sighted cut by this government. In the scheme of government funding it is a small cut and it is a small thing to fund. I would urge the minister to take another look, to reverse her deep, mean and targeted cuts and to re-fund these galleries, Writers Victoria, the public galleries association and anyone else who she has cut funding to in the arts community.

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (18:07): I thank all of those who have spoken. I do not think Mr McIntosh really came to grips with what has happened here, and I think that he has not understood the impact of the cuts that are happening across the arts sector. Writers Victoria is an exemplary body. It is a body that actually has huge impact. It is life changing for many people, and its contribution to the broader community is very significant. There is an economic side to that, but it has a social and cultural side as well. It is time the government recognise that these modest amounts of money ought not to have been cut from these organisations. They ought to be restored. I urge the new minister to have a new and genuine look at this situation and to say, ‘Can I find a way to restore the funding to these organisations?’ I think she can and I think she should, and I think this chamber as a whole thinks she should. 11,000 people is not a small number of people to sign a petition, and it would have gone on to much greater numbers if we had not closed it off to give it its chance on the list here. That is why it was closed off – to give it a chance to come onto the floor here. I think that that is a very important signal. If the government thinks that these kinds of cuts are not important, if they think that they can just brush them under the carpet, that is a mistake. As I said, the creative enterprises program is something we are looking at very closely, and the government’s decision-making. The FOI is there. We in fact received a section 49 statement today for the 17 August hearing at VCAT. The government said they are processing it. Well, they have had this FOI going back to January. Why on earth can’t they just come forward with the information now? You would have to think they have got something to hide.

Motion agreed to.