Election Eve: How Australian Political Parties Will Impact Our Music & Arts Scene

We are just two days out from the Federal Election and at the moment it is still incredibly hard to tell who will come away with the win on Saturday night, but to make your life a little bit easier (and possibly less confusing), we’ve broken it down to see how the political parties will specifically impact our creative industry.

Perhaps it would be appropriate to start with an open letter the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition sent out to all Australian political parties this week, urging them to listen to the voice of young Australians, who, aged between 18-24, make up more than 10% of all voters in the 2016 election.

"Young Australians want to be heard on many issues. They want to help solve the challenges they and their communities face. But the Australian Government currently supports no way to hear young people or engage or consult with them.

"This must change."

coalition

The Turnbull government has been at the centre of criticism for a number of reasons since the release of the Federal Budget earlier this year, not the least of which due to a $1.4 million drop in funding for Australian community radio stations, following calls for the party to restore funding cut from the Australian Council.

Speaking to theMusic earlier this year, Community Broadcasting Association of Australia CEO Jon Bisset said if the cuts to community radio are carried out "it will mean services go off air".

"We’re going to need to start talking about where we make those cuts [if funding isn't restored]," Bisset says.

"It’s not as easy as cutting back…"

It should be noted that the campaign to #keepcommunityradio has garnered over 53,000 signatures, with the target set at 55,000.

Meanwhile, though music body Live Performance Australia applauded the Coalition’s commitment to ensure catalyst funding will continue, it questioned the government's stance on the arts.

"Almost $24 million in funding grants has now been published on the Ministry For The Arts website, but the way in which the government has handled the funding announcement does nothing to build confidence in its approach to arts funding," LPA Chief Executive, Evelyn Richardson said.

The Music has contacted the Coalition for further comment. 

labor

In a direct response to the #keepcommunityradio campaign, the ALP have promised that, if elected, they will restore its funding.

"We understand how important community radio is, you’ve got about 5 million people right across the country listening to more than 440 community radio services every week," Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare said earlier this month.

Furthermore, the ALP will not only return control of the arts funding decisions to an independent Australia Council, but it will commit $5.4 million over three years to Sounds Australia, the Live Music Office and the Australian Music Centre if elected next month.

A statement released from the party earlier this month states,  "A Shorten Labor Government will strengthen Australia’s contemporary live music industry by bringing the Live Music Office and the Australian Music Centre under the umbrella of an expanded Sounds Australia to deliver export, domestic and content management strategies.

"The expanded Sounds Australia will develop and strengthen three key areas:

• Export: Expand the operation of Sounds Australia to include the export of all music genres to key and emerging international markets.
• Domestic: Expand the remit of the Live Music Office to include all genres and venue types.
• Content Management: Use the Australian Music Centre content management system to aggregate and promote Australian artists and music content."

Australian music mogul Michael Gudinski recently endorsed the ALP's election promise. 

"It is an unfortunate reality that the majority of local artists need to be deemed an overseas success before they will receive mainstream recognition within Australia," Gudinski said.

"Ironically promoting Australian artists to the world will be significant in helping to develop them locally."

The news comes on the back of the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN) proposing a $5 million Contemporary Music Fund which would support increased export opportunities for artists, educations programs that would encourage involvement in live and recorded music and regional touring. 

The Music has contacted the ALP for further comment. 

greens

The Greens Party have arguably been the most vocal in regards to the music industry. While it too has committed to restoring funding to community radio, it has also proposed the introduction of a living wage for artists and musicians.

"By its nature the work of an artist is pretty precarious and few artists are able to make a sustainable living from their art alone," Greens spokesperson Adam Bandt said in Melbourne this month.

A recent study found that more than 20% of Australian artists live under the poverty line, which includes those who work second jobs. 

"The majority of artists – they've been living hand to mouth for most of their working lives."

The Greens have also made a conscious effort to invest more into the arts. Under their recently-announced arts policy, the party would restore the full amount of funding cut from the Australia Council, invest $270.2 million in additional funding for the arts over the next four years and provide funding to ensure artists are paid for the public display of their work.

The Music has contacted the Greens for further comment. 

australian sex party

The ASP got everyone talking with the release of a new election ad in the last week which was delivered in the form of a satirical music video and took direct shots at the Catholic Church and the Vatican on issues such as marriage equality and euthanasia.

Speaking to theMusic today, Senate candidate for Victoria Dr Meredith Doig backed calls to restore funds to both the Australia Council and to community radio.

"The conservatives are backing their mates in the private sector by slashing their government licence fees by 25%, and not insisting on any local content in exchange, while cutting off at the knees those pesky community types," Doig said, adding that the ASP welcomes the abandonment of the "elitist Catalyst Fund".