Australia has a rich cultural practice that has long seen us hitting above our weight both in Australia and internationally. Our filmmakers, actors, musicians, writers, and painters have an international reputation for excellence, capturing the hearts and minds of people not just in Australia but internationally. For many years now, the arts have suffered continual cuts and degradation. When I decided to run as an independent federal member, I was determined to ensure that the cultural sector received the support and acknowledgement it deserves and that the arts continue to contribute to our social, economic, and cultural life.  Now more than ever we need to understand who we are as a nation to reach out to each other and build on our connections to foster tolerance and acceptance. The arts and cultural industries help us to do just that. I am determined to ensure that the arts and cultural sector flourishes and can drive the creative thinking that we need to meet the many challenges that now face us.  

Delivered 

I have often spoken in Parliament and in the community about how important our home-grown arts and cultural industries are to the health of our community. Watch me speak about it here and here.

They help define who we are as a people, show who we are to the rest of the world and help us to understand the complexities of the world around us. They build connections and a sense of belonging and they provide employment to many thousands of people in our community. I have encouraged both the Minister for the Arts and Minister for Communications on many occasions to recognise the importance of our arts and cultural sectors and am proud to have helped achieve: 

• Increased funding for public broadcasters. I advocated for and championed increased funding for our public broadcasters, the ABC and SBS 

• The retention of the Location Tax Offset and Location Incentive Grant for international film and television productions 

• Ongoing and increased support for the National Library of Australia’s Trove database, renewed funding for Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi, and increased funding for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) 

• Increased funding for the top 8 arts (ARTS8) training bodies including ATFRS,  Australian National Academy of Music, NAISDA, Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Australian Youth Orchestra, Australian Ballet School, National Institute of Circus  Arts, and NIDA.  

Future Plans 

Advocating for greater support for the arts has been an important focus of my work since my election and will continue to be so. I have had the privilege of meeting with many arts practitioners, cultural workers and representatives from cultural organisations to better understand their concerns and hear their suggestions as to how we can foster and grow a vibrant and resilient arts sector. I have met with the Minister for the Arts, on several occasions to convey the community’s views and to influence the development of the government’s National Cultural Policy Revive. I will continue to advocate for the sustainability, growth and diversity of our local arts and cultural sectors ensuring that government policies and funding priorities encourage participation of diverse Australian creatives across all artforms. 

1. Sustainability and growth of local film production industry through introduction of screen content quotas on screening services to ensure that that Australians are able to see Australian stories made by Australian creatives. 
2. Expand the local production taxation incentive to live performance industry to provide more creative opportunities for Australian performers and businesses 
3. Developing a regulatory framework for AI to acknowledge and protect Australian creativity
4. Support visual artists by better accommodating their unique and often sporadic income arrangements

My 4 point plan in detail  

1. Screen content quotas

We need to introduce an Australian content quota on streaming platforms including streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Apple TV to foster our own domestic film and television industry and ensure both its sustainability and growth and that Australians are able to see Australian stories made by Australian creatives. Streaming services are how most people will access creative content in the future. It is essential that we place on these streamers a guarantee or an obligation to produce local Australian content. I have spoken on many occasions about the need for streaming platforms to be required to put a percentage of their profits, that are made in Australia, into producing Australian programs. But despite the government promising to bring in a content quota system at the last election we are still waiting and it’s simply not good enough. The next Parliament must see action on this promise. Our own creative economy cannot be left to the whims and business decisions of global conglomerates.   

I also believe that a requirement to invest in Australian content must go beyond merely requiring a number of local programs. It must also ensure quality, diversity, and a mix of genres. First Nations programs, documentaries and children’s programs need special protections within any proposed investment obligation. I will continue to demand any future government ensures that a quota system supports a truly diverse mix of Australian creatives and stories. 

2. Expand the local production taxation incentive to live performance industry 

Expanding a taxation incentive to live performances will encourage and support investment in the production and touring of Australian live dramatic works including plays, operas, musicals, ballets and circus with the objective of maintaining the sustainability of live performance in Australia. The UK and the USA provide such a tax incentive and here in Australia, we also provide the film and television industry with a tax incentive to encourage investment in local production. Extending this model to live performance makes sense and will provide a clear policy precedent for the extension of tax-based incentives into the live performance industry, ensuring that local productions remain competitive and viable. 

3. Developing a regulatory framework for AI to acknowledge and protect Australian creativity 

Wentworth constituents who work in the arts and cultural sectors have expressed serious concerns about the rapid development of AI and the impact this is already having on their practice, their employment prospects, and their intellectual property rights. 

There are many arts practitioners and businesses located in Wentworth. Local practitioners have told me both about how important they see AI to their development and growth (many in fact being early adopters of the technology), but also about the serious concerns they have at the rapid changes that are occurring and the rate of development in an unregulated market. Creators invest significant time and effort into their work, yet their intellectual property is being exploited by AI platforms without credit, consent or compensation.  Many fear that unless we effectively regulate AI development in this area, our cultural sector may become redundant. For example, social media companies are scraping data from public posts to inform and train their AI tools. Aside from privacy concerns, this practice is particularly problematic for artists who post images and other forms of work online through social media. The misappropriation of these creative works by generative AI puts the livelihoods of many creatives at risk. 

AI is already posing challenges to voice actors as it mimics their voices and uses them in programs, marketing and advertisements with no permissions sought, no acknowledgement given, and no financial compensation. Musicians have expressed similar concerns that their work is being used without permission or compensation.  This unauthorised use poses a serious threat to the economic and cultural landscape, potentially damaging careers and businesses, including those of First Nations creators. The issue lies not in the technology itself, but in the secretive corporate practices that erode trust within the global creative sector. For a generative AI market to be fair, equitable and sustainable, it must rest on a solid regulatory foundation that upholds the rights of human creators and protects their intellectual property. Transparency is crucial to this process.   

The government must pay more attention to the challenges related to AI and copyright and the creative industries. I will advocate for a requirement that AI developers be transparent in their use of copyrighted works, and license and pay for any copyrighted works used to train datasets to ensure creatives are paid for any commercial AI-generated outputs. That have utilised their content. 

While we all acknowledge that AI provides enormous potential for innovative solutions to many of the challenges we are currently facing, it is essential that we ensure our creative community is adequately protected and compensated for its work.  I will commit to ensuring the government addresses these issues concerning AI and how we can safeguard and acknowledge original work of Australian creatives and protect the intellectual property of local content producers, actors, musicians, writers and artists. 

4. Supporting visual artists

The average income received by Australian artists for their creative work alone is less than the poverty line: just $18,100 according to Australia Council for the Arts research. Some simple taxation reforms could assist the sustainability of visual arts practice and I will press the government to give consideration to the following: 

• A tax exemption for all artist prizes, fellowships, scholarships, awards and government grants. Winning awards and prizes is a rare achievement, earned after many years of self-funded labour and these should be exempt from tax in the same way as prizes awarded to other artists such as writers. 

• Harmonising income averaging arrangements between the ATO and Centrelink Artists find it almost impossible to get their professional status as an artist recognised by Centrelink. Centrelink should adopt an annual averaging process for income from artists’ fees and awards similar to ways this type of income is handled by the ATO under the Tax Ruling: carrying on business as a professional artist whereby artists can average their income over a whole year, rather than it be taken into account in the week it is received which can lead to someone losing their Centrelink payment.