The Minns Labor Government’s Creative Communities arts, culture and creative industries policy has fallen short of the industry’s expectations, with little funding committed to support creatives and industry participants across the state.

Shadow Minister for the Arts and Heritage Kevin Anderson MP said the policy prioritises big-ticket items in Western Sydney, ignoring the feedback of communities across the state, including those in Lismore, Bega, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Wollongong, and Broken Hill.

“The Minns Government’s arts, culture and creative industries policy is heavy on jargon, but light on practical solutions and funding commitments,” Mr Anderson said.

“This is a policy that calls for more paperwork and bigger bureaucracy but does little to support the grassroots creatives at the coal face of our state’s creative industries.

“There were high hopes following 12 town hall meetings and 775 written submissions in the consultation period for this policy, and now we have a plan for more advisory panels, more reviews, and more audits. The Government is kicking the real issues down the road because they don’t want to provide the funds to fix them now.

“There are significant issues facing the arts sector in NSW, including funding shortfalls for the Museum of Contemporary Arts and the Art Gallery of NSW, the temporary relocation of the Powerhouse Ultimo, and a shortage of arts funding in regional NSW. This policy does nothing to address those concerns.

“With so little additional funding committed, I’m concerned that the government will begin syphoning funds from other important arts initiatives to pay for the delivery of the new Creative Communities policy.”

Shadow Minister for Tourism Gurmesh Singh said the plan made clear that this Labor Government has stripped funding from programs supporting the tourism industry for a policy that provides little practical support to grassroots organisations and local operators.

“Since March this year, we have seen critical programs cut, robbing local tourism operators our of millions of dollars in funding and in its place, the government has released a plan that is all talk, no action.

“The NSW tourism industry, particularly in regional NSW, continues to be sacrificed in decisions made by this Government.”