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Federal Election Bulletin – May 2019

As we approach the federal election on the 18th May, TNA has summarised the three major parties’ arts platforms, see below. While the Australian Greens published an arts policy “A Creative Australia” on Sunday 28th April, and Labor announced their arts policy – “Renewing Creative Australia”on Saturday 11th May, the Liberal party have yet to announce a comprehensive arts platform. We have instead referred to 2019-20 budget announcements.

Over the past year, TNA has been working with an alliance of performing arts peak bodies (see list below) to advocate for a Secure Creative Future for Australia. Our work has galvanised the energy of our respective members to ensure that arts voices are heard at a grassroots level, instead of a public campaign. Thanks especially to TNA members, your work has raised the profile of the need for full restoration of funding to the Australia Council, and kept the arts on the political agenda. Thanks also to TNA’s colleagues at the other peak bodies.

Stay in contact post election – write to your local MP (and candidates) – useful links

TNA encourages you to stay in contact with your local member after the election. Tell them your thoughts on their arts platform, or if they are new, it’s a great opportunity to let them know that there are artists and arts organisations in their electorate. Many of them are keen to meet in person.

We also encourage you to stay in contact with the unsuccessful candidates too – many of them will recontest, and in any case, they are in the public sector because they want to have influence, so they may still want to hear from you.

The Australia Council’s useful Electorate Profile tool has electorate specific data, on ‘Industry’ (e.g. how many creative workers) and ‘Engagement’ (citizen engagement with the arts). TNA has used it to make our letters personal: “as you know, Barton has many creative workers, in 2016, there were 4,761 people employed across cultural and creative occupations”.

To find your electorate, use this aec tool with your postcode.   To find out more about Members of Parliament and Senators, including contact details, search here. You can sort by party, state, gender, surname or electorate.

Our colleagues – National Performing Arts peak bodies:
Australian Major Performing Arts Group
Performing Arts Connections Australia
AusDance National
Regional Arts Australia
BlakDance
Symphony Services Australia
Live Performance Australia
Music Australia
Theatre Network Australia

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