Arts Minister defends govt’s support of the industry amid the COVID-19 crisis

Arts Minister Paul Fletcher says the government’s $250 million rescue package for the Arts and Entertainment industry will have “a big multiplier effect” on the wider Australian economy. The package, to be announced today, will include $75 million in competitive grant funding and $90 million in show starter loans for theatres, festivals and concerts. “We want to get shows happening again because it means more jobs; jobs for backstage crew, for front of house, box office, security guards and also for tourism and hospitality,” Mr Fletcher told Sky News Australia. “It’s also about an injection of confidence in the sector so that promotors, arts companies will take the risk of investing in new shows because they know they’ve got a chance here of getting support from the government.” When probed about a gap in the government’s JobKeeper scheme which meant workers on shorter than 12 month contracts did not qualify for the payments, Mr Fletcher defended the government’s support of the sector. He said the industry saw close to $100 million a month in a “culmination of JobKeeper and JobSeeker cashflow support”. “In May, about 25,000 of them were actually on JobKeeper so it was a bit of an urban myth,” he said. “The facts are, JobKeeper is supporting the Arts sector as it needs to.” Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au