Arts Funding

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for the Arts. Minister, what are the potential impacts of the commonwealth government's cuts to the Australia Council on the arts community in South Australia?

Mr GARDNER: Point of order: standing order 97—hypothetical question.

The SPEAKER: No, I think it is present tense.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:01): The cuts to the Australia Council have happened. They are not imaginary. They are not speculated. They were announced in the last federal budget, and I thank the member for Torrens for this important question.

The Australia Council plays an important role in the South Australian arts community providing peer-assessed grants to support our small and medium arts sector. They are the heart and soul of our arts community and provide the opportunity for small, experimental and emerging artists and arts organisations to have their works seen, their crafts honed and their talent recognised. The arts in this state are modest and interconnected and these artists and organisations contribute to the success of our major companies, festivals and cultural institutions by feeding in talent and providing alternative experiences for audiences.

I was disappointed to see that the commonwealth government has redirected nearly $105 million over the next four years from the Australia Council into a new National Program for Excellence in the Arts. I understand that the excellence program will support endowments, international touring and strategic projects; however, to date there has been little information provided about who this money will be going to and what the process will be for organisations wishing to access it.

The South Australian arts community deserves better. They are dependent on this funding and these changes will have a massive impact. Media reports estimate that 150 companies will be affected, but the reality is there will be hundreds more. The fear is that many companies will be unviable, starving future generations of opportunities and shutting down the pipeline that develops the talents that major companies need to excel.

The Australia Council only recently settled on a new grants funding structure that would have seen our arts organisations able to apply for six-year funding agreements. This would have given companies like Windmill Theatre for children and Vitalstatistix the stability they need to generate great art. The organisations to which I have spoken expressed a great positivity after being given the opportunity to set out a long-term plan and structures rather than existing from grant round to grant round. With this out-of-the-blue redirection of funds, these organisations have been left in limbo. It disappoints me to think how much work has gone into their visions, now only to have the Australia Council suspend the grant round indefinitely.

I have written to the Hon. George Brandis, federal Minister for the Arts, and have requested to meet with him to raise these concerns and to urge and provide more information as well as a transparent process with better engagement through his implementation of the excellence program. I understand that yesterday the federal shadow minister for the arts, Mr Mark Dreyfus, moved to establish a Senate inquiry about the new excellence program. I welcome this scrutiny and will help where I can to ensure the views of the South Australian arts community are heard through this Senate process.

The state government has welcomed the federal government's assistance to small business. It seems inconsistent to me then to potentially starve the small and independent arts sector which is literally hundreds of small businesses of opportunity. And it's not just the companies—an entire cultural economy hinges on these groups. It will hit publishers, printers, graphic designers, food and beverage and hospitality workers and businesses—just to name a few. All South Australians benefit from our incredibly diverse artistic community, and I am committed to fighting on their behalf for fair and transparent federal funding.