Nicole Beyer, executive director of Theatre Network Australia, said she had heard anecdotally in the past fortnight of an increase in anxiety-related mental health issues in the industry.

Applications to their Crisis Cash for Artists fund more than quadrupled.

“They lost work, they’re not eligible for this latest [government] package and they’ve been unable to take on other work so they have no income to pay for their rent or for food, bills or medical supplies,” she says. “It’s crisis money to actually survive.”

She said the industry needs a quick response program with emergency funding for workers who lost their livelihoods in lockdowns – and an end to limits on existing support such as the requirement for sole traders being eligible for GST.