Election 2025: Raise Our Voices
This election is an opportunity for workers in the creative and media industries to Raise Our Voices!
Much has been achieved in this term of government including:
- The launch of the national cultural policy ‘Revive’;
- Restoration of funding to the arts, the ABC and SBS;
- An increase in funding to Screen Australia and a rise in the Location Offsets incentive;
- Recognition of the $250 minimum payment for musicians in government grant and funding guidelines;
- Securing the release of journalists Julian Assange and Cheng Lei from imprisonment overseas;
- Significant improvements to workers’ rights through changes to industrial relations laws including multi-employer bargaining, right to disconnect and closing the loopholes, along with the largest increases in wages for years;
- Establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
However, there remain too many threats to the independence and integrity of our industries and too many politicians and corporations who want to lower our voices.
The Liberal Party have aired their intentions to interfere with arts funding and appointments. The most recent example of which was their questioning of the decision by Creative Australia to appoint artist Khaled Sabsabi as Australia’s representative to the 2026 Venice Biennale. This line of questioning directly led to the Creative Australia board rescinding Sabsabi’s appointment causing outrage across the Australian artistic landscape.
We need leadership in our arts organisations who will stand up to bullies and assert the right for artists to express themselves without fear of political interference.
We also need leadership to stop the attacks our arts and media have suffered at the hands of large overseas corporate giants like Amazon, Spotify, Live Nation and Meta. These companies have a stranglehold on the ways that Australian voices can be heard, and we need strong action from our political leaders.
That’s why we’re launching our plan to Raise Our Voices. Our plan gives government the tools to ensure Australian voices remain heard.
Our plan to secure the future of Australia’s creative and media industries:
1. Meaningfully build on the five pillars of Revive
- Extend Same Job, Same Pay and Closing the Loopholes protections to workers in the creative and media industries
- Enact legislation to embed Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property protocols into law
- Ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts programs are community controlled
- Increase direct funding of publicly funded performance companies and Creative Australia grants
2. Taking on the big monopolies in the screen, recorded and live performance sectors
- Mandate local content quotas for streaming services requiring 20% of Australian revenues for streaming services of scale be devoted to the production of Australian content
- Implement ‘Michael’s Rule’ to ensure that every international touring artist includes an Australian artist among their opening acts
- Conduct an ACCC Inquiry into anti-competitive behaviour in the live music industry
- Conduct a parliamentary inquiry into the state of the Australian recorded music industry with particular focus on the impacts of streaming
3. Invest in public interest journalism
- Ensure that all government grants and mechanisms to support commercial and community media organisations guarantee that funds be used to pay for the employment of journalists
- Ensure the sustainability of the ABC and SBS by restoring funding in real terms.
- Commit to an enhanced five-year funding commitment for the News Media Assistance Program to provide certainty to the industry and encourage media organisations to invest in news deserts.
4. Guarantee freedom from political interference in the media and creative industries
- Protect press freedom:
- Greater whistleblower protections
- Expanding protections for external disclosures under the PID Act
- Enhance shield laws
- Introduce a public interest defence for defamation
- Guarantee the independence of the ABC and SBS
- Guarantee the independence of Australia’s arts and cultural bodies
5. Regulate AI to ensure control, compensation and consent for creative and media workers
- Legislate an economy-wide AI Act
- Levy AI developers to pay for the work that is being used to train AI
- Ensure all content used to train AI is subject to prior consent
- Mandate public disclosure of all materials used to train AI
- Reserve copyright for human-made works
Nationwide election handout blitz on April 1
Next Tuesday, April 1, unions are encouraging members to join a nationwide handout blitz at railway stations. These events are being co-ordinated by state and territory trades and labour councils. If you want to be involved click through on the relevant link below to register your name.
