ASA welcomes recommendations for national cultural plan, review into lending rights scheme

2.11.21

Last week, the report on the outcome of the Federal Inquiry into the Creative and Cultural Industries was released by the House of Representatives Standing Committee of Communications and the Arts: Sculpting a National Cultural Plan; igniting a post-Covid economy for the arts.

The bipartisan report included 22 recommendations, underpinned by a recognition of the fundamental importance of the arts in our society. The ASA welcomes many of these recommendations, in particular the recommendation for a national cultural plan, and the review of the lending rights schemes, both of which were included in our submission to the Federal Inquiry.

Here is a summary of the Committee’s recommendations which are most relevant to ASA members.

A national cultural plan 

The Committee recommended that the Commonwealth Government develop a national cultural plan to assess the medium and long-term needs of the arts sector. 

In our submission, the ASA called for a federal strategic plan for literature, supported by a boost to literature funding, and so we were pleased to see a recommendation for a broader plan for the arts, in which literature should be featured.

ASA CEO, Olivia Lanchester said, "We support the development of a national cultural plan, which should place literature at its heart. Australian authors and illustrators remain among the most underpaid creators in Australia and yet they are the bedrock of storytelling in our nation; not only do they write the books that challenge and sustain us, they also fuel the broader arts through adaptations of their stories onto the stage and screen. It is beyond time to create a national strategy for books and writing, positioned within a broader national arts and cultural plan."

Review of Lending Rights 

As ASA members will know, we have been strongly advocating for an expansion of the lending rights schemes (PLR / ELR) to include digital formats via our Digital Lending Right (DLR) campaign. We were delighted to see, after years of advocacy, a recommendation to review the PLR/ELR schemes to ensure that authors are appropriately compensated for loss of sales when their books are made available to the community via public and educational libraries. 

While it is deeply pleasing that the Standing Committee recognised the lending rights schemes need review, we note that much work on this has already been done, and the time for action on modernising the scheme is now. 

The ASA’s position is that it is plainly the case that authors are not adequately compensated because their digital works are currently excluded from the schemes. A further review must focus on the best way to roll out lending rights payments for digital formats as quickly as possible and we will continue to push for this.

No change in funding for Australia Council

Unfortunately, the Report made no recommendations with respect to increased funding of Australia Council, although this was called for by the Labor members of the Standing Committee in their additional notes to the report.  

In our submission to the Inquiry, the ASA called for a 3-tiered boost to literature funding, in line with the sentiment of so many authors’ submissions. As Olivia Lanchester says, "This Inquiry saw an outpouring of submissions from the literature community. Around 20% of all submissions were from the literature sector. As well as the ASA and State writers’ centres, the report references the submissions of Sophie Cunningham, Charlotte Wood, Nick Earls, Helen Garner, and Christos Tsiolkas. After years of falling funding for literature - which receives the lowest investment of all the major art forms - and with author's incomes perilously low, authors are crying out for government investment and vision. We're disappointed that the Committee made no recommendations for increased funding to Australia Council, and are concerned about the recommendation to direct the Productivity Commission to inquire into legislative arrangements which govern funding of artistic activities, given that we've previously seen the Productivity Commission make recommendations which were insensitive to the precarious ways in which creators earn a living.”

Art Starter portal

The ASA was pleased to see a recommendation that the Office for the Arts investigate the delivery of an ‘Art Starter’ portal containing information for those engaged in the creative economy, at all stages of their careers. This portal would include information on financial literacy, including tax regimes and subsidies, digital literacy, intellectual property, services and support available through business.gov.au, and information on grants and funding opportunities. Particularly as we have already gathered a lot of relevant information, the ASA would be pleased to liaise with the Office for the Arts on an ‘Art Starter Portal’ containing critical information for authors who work as sole traders. 

Quotas 

The Committee recommended that there be a minimum threshold of Australian-authored literary texts in the Australian Curriculum, which the ASA wholly endorses, particularly at a time when we are seeing a wave of powerful First Nations writing published. 

The report also contained a recommendation that streaming and subscription video on demand services allocate at least 20% of their revenue on new Australian content.  

Turning STEM into STEAM

The Committee recognised the importance of arts education, the range of both critical and creative skills gained by studying the arts, the social wellbeing and mental health benefits fostered by participation in the arts and recommended that the Commonwealth, State and Territory Education Ministers Meeting consider adding a fourth cross-curriculum priority for our schools: ‘the Arts’. 

New national centre of Indigenous culture and arts 

The Committee recommended a national centre of Indigenous culture and arts be established, co-designed with Indigenous communities and arts bodies. The Office for the Arts should consider the most culturally appropriate site on which to build this new centre.  

Australian Bureau of Statistics 

The Committee recommended additional funding for the Australian Bureau of Statistics and additional questions to be added to the Census regarding people who work in the creative industries.  When the government cut funding to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2014, data collection for both book publishing and book selling was discontinued. While the book industry was not specifically mentioned, we hope that an increase in funding for the ABS will allow meaningful data to be collected to track trends across the book industry.

The ASA thanks the Committee for its work on this important inquiry and we hope the Government will take action on the recommendations promptly. The Committee recommended that the Arts Minister report on progress by December 2022.

Read the Committee’s full report here.

Read more about the ASA’s submission to the Inquiry here.