Page 2872 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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I was also pleased to see in May that the Minister for the Arts released the master plan for the Kingston arts precinct. This is an important step in the development of a key arts hub and will better integrate influential arts organisations like the glassworks and Megalo with all the new cultural venues like the bus depot markets and the Fitters Workshop.
I note that a development application for minor upgrades to the Fitters Workshop was submitted recently and I look forward to seeing how the Kingston arts precinct—
At 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
MR RATTENBURY: As I was saying, I look forward to seeing how the development application for upgrades to the Fitters Workshop progresses and how the Kingston arts precinct continues to develop over time. I think that is going to become a really strong focal point in our city for the arts community. Being so well located, containing some of those historic buildings and with the new development in the Kingston Foreshore area and various eating and drinking outlets coming on stream down there, I think that area will really go ahead in the coming years.
I am interested in the debate that has sprung up in the discussion this evening about funding from the Australia Council of the Arts. I did note in Ms Berry’s motion at (1)(i) that the Australia Council of the Arts currently does not fund the ACT at a fair level compared to other jurisdictions. So I went and checked the ACA’s most recent annual report and found there was perhaps some truth to this statement.
The annual report indicates that for the ACT, which contains 1.6 per cent of Australia’s population, we only receive 0.7 per cent of the ACA’s national arts funding. That is less than half of what the numbers suggest we should realistically enjoy. During the last financial year that funding was in the order of $1.3 million, and that was as a proportion of the ACA’s total funding in that period of $174.8 million. By my rough calculations, a fairer share would be in the order of $2.8 million per annum. I certainly support Minister Burch in her efforts to continue to convince the Australia Council of the merits of the arts scene in the ACT.
The whole vote tonight is going to turn on that single point and I look forward to the likely outcome of that discussion. As I say, on the research we have done there does appear, on the face of it, to be a less than fair share for the ACT than we might expect. I was just chatting on the side with Mr Smyth about how one might actually analyse those figures. I think we all might want to have a further look at it.
I will simply conclude my remarks this evening by saying, having made those other comments, that there is no doubt that the arts and culture scene in the ACT is a tremendous scene. It is a diverse scene. I think it will continue to go from strength to strength. I just think about all the different venues and facilities across Canberra and the things I have seen—from the Tuggeranong Arts Centre last year, where there was an exhibition of artworks from prisoners at the AMC, to sessions at the Belconnen
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