This submission is made by MEAA to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications inquiry into the National Cultural Policy, Revive.
MEAA considers Revive to be a landmark document. It is our nation's first consolidated cultural policy in a decade. It follows what many in the arts community consider a decade of lost opportunity. The actions proposed across Revive's five pillars are the result of considerable thought and sector consultation.
As the key union representing Australia's cultural workers, MEAA especially welcomes the prominence of First Nations' cultural practice and endeavours. The initiatives under First Nations First, while overdue, accord our original artists the respect and resources needed to confidently ply their artistic trade.
Revive contains important new funding for a range of initiatives - including First Nations, a refashioned Australia Council, with new units devoted to workplace practices and building the music industry's footprint and new infrastructure. There is however, much detail to be developed to ensure these promises are fully discharged. MEAA and its members stand ready to assist in this process.
This submission does not comment on all of the actions proposed in Revive. It instead nominates and then comments upon the actions that MEAA considers will be of most consequence to its members.
