Aboriginal Art and Culture

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:21): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Gazzola has the floor.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Can the minister advise the council about how Aboriginal art and culture is being supported in South Australia?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for his very important question. Art makes a huge contribution to Aboriginal communities, both in terms of economic opportunities as well as cultural legacies. Certainly, I know, from my experiences in the APY lands when I visit art centres and see firsthand the incredible work they are doing across a whole range of mediums, how they are improving the lives of people in those communities, keeping culture strong and having a recorded history.

There was a tangible sense of excitement about the future of Tarnanthi up there. You could sense that something big was about to happen, and all the art centres were getting ready, which is why I am so pleased about the support BHP Billiton is providing to the Tarnanthi Festival. The $17.5 million that BHP Billiton is providing will allow this festival to grow and continue from the huge success it was last year.

Right from the very start, we had the opening ceremony with Kaurna elder Uncle Stevie Goldsmith leading former prime minister Paul Keating dancing to the stage to formally open the festival. Some truly remarkable events took place during that festival, like the Kulata Tjuta spear installation, where senior men created spears for a sound and light installation on the lawns of Government House. You could literally feel the vibrations through the ground as the senior men danced around the spears. I know that particular project brought together very senior men from art centres and other places right across the APY lands to get ready for that project, which was quite simply like nothing they have ever done before.

As part of Tarnanthi last year, the art fair at Tandanya, I reckon, hosted more than 5,000 visitors and sold out, creating almost half a million dollars in sales from that one art fair. I was told that many visitors had never seen so many collectives and art centres come together for one event as that arts fair. There were art centres represented from literally right across Australia—WA, NT, I think Victoria and Tasmania, Queensland, and certainly our own art centres, particularly in the APY lands. The six art centres across the APY lands are recognised as some of the finest right across Australia, and certainly the Ernabella Arts centre, established in the 1940s, is the oldest continuing arts centre anywhere in this country, I believe. Much of the sales generated go directly back into those Aboriginal communities which were represented at that art fair last year.

I am very pleased that the future of Tarnanthi is a bright one. I am told that we will see five 10-day festivals in October each year from 2017-21: three major exhibitions in the odd years and two smaller exhibitions in the even years at the art gallery. As I have outlined, it is very pleasing how successful the return of the art fair was last year, with the city alive with exhibitions in locations all over the city. Something that stood out to me at last year's Tarnanthi event, was the diversity of exhibitions and exhibition spaces right across Adelaide.

Once again, I am sure that Tarnanthi will have the absolute best in Indigenous art from right around the nation and, importantly, will also attract tourists and artists from right around the nation and, I am sure, internationally as well. I am advised that last year there were more than 311,000 people who attended events: 25 per cent of these were visiting from interstate and 2 per cent came from overseas, which I am sure will grow as this event is built on year upon year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the principal sponsor, BHP Billiton, for their support for the first Tarnanthi festival and for their ongoing support, which will make the continuation of the Tarnanthi festival possible. Of course, the Art Gallery of South Australia will once again play the role of major host for the exhibition, and I pay tribute to the art gallery, their leadership and their whole team for their support for this festival. I am sure that Tarnanthi will go from strength to strength.

This festival, which I think someone said is the largest of its kind, at least in the Southern Hemisphere—and I have heard no-one dispute that fact, so it stands without being disputed—will continue to grow. I am sure, as we come to the lead-up to the next Tarnanthi festival, I will with great pleasure inform the chamber of what lays ahead.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, when you are debating with somebody on the other side of the chamber, choose your words wisely. Very often people are passionate about what they are saying and to call them a disgrace for just showing their passion can be offensive on occasions to them.