A Comedian Walks Into A Studio & Clearly Explains Why Arts Needs COVID-era Funding

We've been big fans of Luke McGregor for a very long time but he might have now elevated himself to 'hero' status. 

McGregor joined The Weekly With Charlie Pickering last night for his regular 'Lukenomics' segment - where he takes topics like superannuation and negative gearing and makes them easy to understand. 

This week, McGregor tackled the recently announced $250 million JobMaker support package for the Arts following mass shutdowns due to COVID-19. 

"In 2016-17, the Arts contributed $111 billion to Australia’s economy," explain McGregor. "To get an idea of how big that is, aviation contributed $18.42 billion to the economy in 2018."

"Now, $250 million might seem like a lot but it’s less than the budget of Cars 2," said McGregor of the package. “…Only $35 million of the government’s support package is for direct financial support. The majority is tied up as grants and conditional loans for when things open back up again. 

“It does seem like a lot yet the aviation industry has received well over $1.2 billion from the government. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have gotten that - I’m just trying to point out how tiny the Arts support package is."

For full effect, check out the video below but here's the crux of it - "So yes, we don’t need the Arts to survive, but I would argue that the Arts gives us a reason to." *insert applause here*