Joint Submission to inquiry Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions

Introduction

This is a joint submission by many of the arts and disability peak bodies in the States and Territories and the national arts and disability peak body, Arts Access Australia. This submission has been prepared by Arts Access Australia, and the Arts Access Australia CEO is the prime point of contact in relation to this Submission. Collectively, we represent a broad membership to advance equality for Australians with disability as artists, arts workers and arts leaders, including creating pathways to employment, professional practice and leadership. Details of each of the organisations making this submission, including the names, postal and email addresses, and contact telephone numbers of each organisation, are set out in Annexure ‘A’.

We welcome the opportunity to provide the Standing Committee with information and to contribute to the important discussion on how the Standing Committee should look at Australia’s creative and cultural industries and institutions, in light of the Minister’s terms of reference, in relation to artists, arts workers and audiences with disability, including key issues and examples of best practice.

The majority of our combined national representation includes artists with disability who are forging a professional career in the arts or making art through creative community connections. We value all types of participation in the arts and we are committed to promoting the value of the arts for people with disability for employment, enterprise, social inclusion, cultural identity, and health and wellbeing outcomes.

We are also committed to breaking down the barriers to participation in the arts, and removing inequity, improving financial and artistic independence and removing the significant disadvantages that people with disability face in the arts in Australia.

This submission is focussed on the inquiry’s terms of reference 3 (best mechanism for ensuring cooperation and delivery of policy between layers of government) and 4 (impact of COVID-19 on the creative and cultural industries). In doing so, however, we do not intend to suggest that the other terms of reference are not important or do not require careful consideration, and prompt action. Moreover, any recommendations made in relation to any matters relevant to those other terms of reference must take into account the needs of, and any effects on, disabled artists, arts workers and audiences.

This submission and our recommended priorities have been informed by listening to the collective voice of artists and arts workers with disability and the organisations that support them from across Australia.

Executive summary

Terms of reference 3:

1. We invite the Office of the Arts, Australia Council for the Arts and NDIS to jointly resolve, endorse and implement a set of national best- practice guidelines that support a harmonised framework for the full cultural inclusion of Australian artists and arts workers with a lived experience of disability (Principles), that are based on, and developed from, the National Standards for Disability Services.
2. The Principles are made a mandatory condition of Australia Council funding (similar to the Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts).
3. The Principles are also adopted and endorsed by the public funding bodies for the arts in each of the States and Territories, and made a mandatory condition of funding by each of those bodies.
4. The Principles are developed in partnership with the arts and disability sector, using a co- design model, together with the sector more broadly, to ensure that the voices of disabled people are heard, and their concerns addressed.
5. A National Arts, Culture and Creativity Plan is developed and implemented to inform more coherent policy settings and investment at all three levels of government, similar to the existing National Sport Plan, ‘Sport 2030’.
6. Development, implementation and review of the Plan must involve the active participation of the wider arts and cultural industries (including the arts and disability sector).
7. Implement the recommendations of the Productivity Commission in relation to a new National Disability Agreement, ensuring that at its heart is effective mechanisms and a policy framework across all levels of government to improve the wellbeing of people with disability including in relation to access to and participation in arts and cultural activities.
8. Renew the National Arts and Disability Strategy (NADS), as a matter of priority.
9. Conduct a public awareness raising campaign for NADS as soon as possible, promoting inclusion and implementation of disability inclusive policies and actions, to drive real, practical improvements in the lives of all Australians with disability and their participation in arts and culture.

Terms of reference 4:

10.  An understanding of the Social Model of Disability and the legal framework underpinning the DIsability Discrimination Act, together with active participation by disabled people, must inform all decision-making, and responsibilities to the public, as the cultural sector re-opens.

11. Collaboration with D/deaf and disabled artists, audiences and stakeholders – real and potential – is key to this process.
12. Best practice also requires an organisation to properly assess the effect of the decisions they propose to make in relation to disability, in the same way that any well-run and prudent organisation conducts appropriate risk assessments of plans or proposed decisions, carried out with professional experts, shared widely and clearly, and covers changes to all aspects of operations as a consequence of COVID-19.
13. Any public sector program, or program funded at least in part by the public sector (whether Commonwealth, State or Territory, or local government), that provides funding or other support for Australian arts and cultural organisations or Australian artists or performers and their work to create jobs, restart programs or create new activities as part of encouraging or supporting COVID-19 recovery must include, as a mandatory condition of funding and a mandatory requirement of grant acquittal, that every program recipient adopts and implements the best-practice principles in ‘CONFIDENTIAL Annexure B (not available for public viewing)’ (or a similar set of principles developed by arts organisations of, and with input by, people with disability).
14. The Office of the Arts requires all organisations that are funded under the Australian Government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund or the Live Music Australia program to adopt and implement these Principles and, through grant acquittal, be accountable for their implementation.

Terms of reference 3: The best mechanism for ensuring cooperation and delivery of policy between layers of government

Best-practice guidelines for inclusiveness & accessibility

The meeting of the Standing Council on Disability Reform ministers from all Australian jurisdictions endorsed the revised National Standards for Disability Services (NSDS) at its meeting on 18 December 2013. These Standards are “considered critical under the National Disability Insurance Scheme”, and apply to Disability service providers. They have been mandated by the Australian government to apply to employment service providers providing employment and advocacy services for people with disability, and advocacy agencies funded under the National Disability Advocacy Program.

The National Standards underwent extensive consultation, validation and user testing, culminating in a set of six standards that can be applied across a broad range of circumstances. They are:

• Rights
• Participation and Inclusion
• Individual Outcomes
• Feedback and Complaints
• Service Access
• Service Management.

We believe that the NSDS are central to this discussion and solution, of ensuring co-operation and delivery of policy, and real, practical and effective outcomes, in the arts and cultural sector for people with disability.

Other existing resources also point a clear way forward that has been shown to work effectively, and from which we can also learn.

The Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts (Protocol) were first published in 2002 and revised in 2007 and, most recently in 2019 (and published by the Australia Council for the Arts on 29 September 20204). The Protocol endorses the rights of Indigenous people to their cultural heritage and supports Indigenous creative practice, by encouraging self-determination and helping build a strong and diverse Indigenous arts sector. These are key goals and priority areas of the Australia Council for the Arts. According to Australia Council’s Head of First Nations Arts & Culture, Patricia Adjei, the Protocol is “an essential resource that promote self-determination and provide a guide for best practice.”

Creative practitioners who work with Indigenous artists or engage with Indigenous cultural heritage in projects, and are funded by Australia Council for the Arts grant assessment panels are required to comply with the Protocol as a condition of funding.

The Australia Council’s Cultural Engagement Framework (CEF) is a mechanism to ensure that the Australia Council’s vision, priorities and processes recognise and reflect diversity. The CEF identifies a number of priority areas where the Australia Council currently focuses its efforts. In addition to the focus on First Nations’ people (noted above), which is a key driver of the Protocol, we strongly believe that a set of best-practice principles or guidelines, based on the NSDS, must be developed for the arts and culture sector (Principles). We invite the Office of the Arts, Australia Council for the Arts and NDIS to jointly resolve, endorse and implement a set of national best- practice guidelines that support a harmonised framework for the full cultural inclusion of Australian artists and arts workers with a lived experience of disability (Principles), that are based on, and developed from, the National Standards for Disability Services.

Further, we believe that these Principles need to be made a condition of public funding. Such guidelines or principles are consistent with the Australia Council’s key areas of focus, and an important tool in ensuring that the Australia Council continues to deliver effective and measurable outcomes through the CEF, for diversity and accessibility. Such a set of principles is consistent with the CEF. Further, such a set of principles will deliver to the arts and disability sector a stronger sector, give artists and arts workers greater agency and self-determination, and create and encourage more, more valuable and more sustainable opportunities, in the same way as the First Nations Protocol does for our First Nations peoples.

The Principles need to be developed in partnership with the arts and disability sector, on a co-design model, together with the sector more broadly to ensure that the voices of disabled people are heard, and their concerns addressed. We want to work closely with the Australia Council to ensure that the Principles are comprehensive, practical and useful, and provide mechanisms for ensuring compliance and accountability.

We also strongly believe that, once adopted by the Australia Council, there are compelling reasons for the Principles to be adopted and endorsed by the public sector arts funding bodies in each of the States and Territories. Again, making the Principles a mandatory condition of funding by each of those organisations will help drive adoption, compliance and accountability.

A national plan

In September 2020, the Australian Academy of the Humanities released a working paper, which is an edited extract from the forthcoming report from A New Approach titled Australia’s cultural and creative economy: A 21st century guide.

The working paper recommends that a National Arts, Culture and Creativity Plan would inform more coherent policy settings and investment at all three levels of government. This could be achieved in the same vein as the existing National Sport Plan, ‘Sport 2030’, that identifies the enduring and non-partisan principles and clarifies responsibilities.

The National Plan must include, and be implemented across, the Australian Government; all State and Territory governments; the Australian Local Government Association; and the Australia Council for the Arts. Development, implementation and review of the Plan must involve the active participation of the wider arts and cultural industries (including the arts and disability sector).

The Plan must include practical and effective measures that ensure all areas of Australia, and all Australians, have reasonable access to, and can take advantage of, a wide range of different cultural infrastructure and activities.

Furthermore, by taking a national, planned and integrated approach to cultural and creative industries, we can not only take advantage of existing areas of strength to grow our economy and jobs market, but we can embed policies and practices that make cultural and creative activities more accessible to all Australians, including artists, arts workers and audience with disability.

Strengthen the public policy framework to plan for and deliver better outcomes for people with disability

The Productivity Commission found, in its 2018 review of the National Disability Agreement, that:

• The current National Disability Agreement (NDA) no longer serves its purpose, has a weak influence on policy, and its performance targets show no progress in improving the wellbeing of people with disability. A new agreement is needed to promote cooperation, enhance accountability and clarify roles and responsibilities of governments.
• Improving the wellbeing of people with disability and allies across the nation requires a collaborative response from all levels of government, extending well beyond the NDIS to many other service systems, and to address key gaps in several areas — including in relation to raising labour force participation rates for people with disability.
• The purpose of a new NDA is to provide an overarching agreement for disability policy, to clarify roles and responsibilities, to promote cooperation and to enhance accountability. The new NDA should:
• set out the aspirational objective for disability policy in Australia — people with disability and their carers have an equitable quality of life and participate as valued members of the community — and acknowledge and reflect the rights committed to by Australia under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• outline the roles and responsibilities of governments in progressing that objective; the outcomes being sought for people with disability; and a nationally consistent performance reporting framework for tracking progress against those outcomes.

There has been no Government response to this study as yet, other than to acknowledge that the “Australian Government will continue to work with all governments, people with disability and the disability sector to consider the findings and recommendations of the Report” and that findings from the review “are highly relevant for informing the design of a new National Disability Strategy for beyond 2020”.

We have called on the NDIA to make employment and economic participation for artists with disability a priority, to understand the journey from participation to emerging and established practice, and to understand the quality programs required to support creative engagement, quality artistic outcomes, and professional employment outcomes for artists with disability. We also advocate for better intergovernmental collaboration and including artists and leaders with disability in the change as imperative to successful social reform.

The Productivity Commission identified several service areas in the NDIS where there are widespread concerns about gaps and where responsibilities are unclear, including community access and inclusion programs that support people with disability to participate in the arts through the NDIS.

In its 2017 study on NDIS Costs, the Commission recommended that before the NDIS is fully implemented, all governments should make public their approach to providing continuity of support (to clients of disability programs who are not eligible for the NDIS), and the services they intend to provide to people with disability beyond those provided. The Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS made a similar recommendation in early 2018.

With the exception of the Australian Government, governments have published little information about how they intend to ensure continuity of support, including precisely what disability services they will provide. To progress, and to provide certainty for people with disability, the Commission recommended that governments immediately articulate exactly what services they will provide (and how) to people with disability, particularly for services outside the NDIS, where the weight of concern about service gaps lies.

Maintaining momentum for a renewed National Arts and Disability Strategy

Whilst, according to public statements, all “Governments remain committed to a new NDS (which is critical in the development and implementation of a new NADS and believe it is essential that Australians with disability have a real and robust opportunity to have their say on the Strategy and contribute to its development”, that is by no means certain.

The current environment, with the focus on economic recovery from the effects of COVID19, and the Australian Government signalling through various policy settings how devalued is the arts sector, means that maintaining progress is challenging. Unlike so many other industries, the current crisis facing our sector doesn’t have an end date or a three-stage action plan. There was national consultation to inform the renewal of NADS in late 2018, and many stakeholders requested that NADS be more closely aligned with national disability policy through the NDS. In late 2019, the Meeting of Cultural Ministers agreed to explore opportunities for closer alignment, and to work with the Department of Social Services (DSS) to investigate a better alignment of the NADS to the NDS. This outcome suggested a parallel second stage consultation process for the NADS and NDS.

The Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) is responsible for leading the renewal of the NDS, and a second phase of consultation that was planned to take place earlier this year was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Minister for Families and Social Services has now released the National Disability Strategy Position Paper and announced that Stage 2 consultations have commenced for the new National Disability Strategy. Submissions closed on 30 September 2020. The process is expected to run until October (with possible extensions due to the current COVID-19 situation in Victoria). According to the 2021 Budget papers, the DSS does not expect a new National Disability Strategy to be finalised by the Commonwealth, State and Territory First Ministers until the end of 2021.

The position paper does not include any reference to NADS, and does not seek any public input into any alignment of the NDS and NADS. This is in the context that the Government has yet to formally respond the recommendations of the Productivity Commission in relation to a new National Disability Agreement, in circumstances where the commission recommended that a new National Disability Agreement was needed by “the start of 2020”.

The Office for the Arts is engaging closely with DSS to explore opportunities for aligning a renewed NADS with a renewed NDS. However, following the release of the position paper, it is now clear that there will not be any consultation on NADS in parallel with the NDS consultation.

Instead, according to information provided by Arts Queensland, the Office for the Arts now believes that the best way to achieve alignment is through a consecutive, rather than concurrent, consultation and is leading ongoing discussions with DSS. The Office believes that this will allow the second stage consultation leading to a revised NADS to build on the 2018 NADS national consultation and the outcomes of the NDS consultation and its revised strategy. The Office for the Arts will then need some time to develop the new NADS document, incorporating the feedback from the 2018 consultation.

There is no further information on the likely timing and format of this proposed consultation, or when stakeholders can expect the NADSD to be renewed, other than the Office for the Arts envisages that “there will be targeted consultation with key sector stakeholders on a new NADS document, rather than an extensive national consultation”.

The next stage of consultation on a renewed NADS is therefore dependent on the outcomes of the current NDS consultation, but that consultation is being undertaken without any consideration or requests for input on how those outcomes may subsequently affect the development of an aligned NADS. The fact that the outcomes will subsequently affect or influence the NADS is not something that the public is asked to consider when formulating any response to the position paper. We are very concerned that, rather than leading to increased alignment, this accretive and consecutive approach will increase the scope and effect of inconsistencies, misalignment and gaps in the two strategies.

Moreover, the public is not generally aware of or engaged in the Strategy. The Social Policy Research Centre highlighted a lack of knowledge in some government departments and agencies about the Strategy. The document review also found many references to the low profile of the Strategy. Stakeholders generally saw the lack of public and government awareness of the Strategy as a major impediment to effective implementation. Engaging businesses, local government, clubs and community groups, unions and services with the National Disability Strategy and the National Arts and Disability Strategy, by encouraging them to think about inclusion and implement disability inclusive policies and actions, are crucial, to all aspects of driving real, practical improvements in the lives of all Australians with disability, including in relation to participation in arts and cultural activities.

Terms of reference 4: The impact of COVID-19 on the creative and cultural industries

Disabled people in Australia are suffering exceptional effects of COVID -19. The pandemic threats to health, livelihoods, social care and creativity are all significantly magnified for disabled people, including increased risk of infection, higher number of co-morbidities and because of underlying health conditions such as chronic diseases and respiratory illnesses. In August 2020, the Disability Royal Commission held a public hearing on the experiences of people with disability during the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, which revealed the terrible toll the pandemic has taken.

The hearing took evidence from 36 witnesses, many of whom are people with severe disability. Witnesses spoke of: the sudden loss of support services essential to daily life; lack of access to basic necessities such as food and medications; and uncertainty about the prospects for survival in the face of prolonged disruptions to essential care and support. Witnesses also told of other harrowing experiences: including enforced isolation from family, friends and social networks; and the absence of clear, consistent and accessible information about the pandemic and the changing rules in place, particularly for people with cognitive disability.

In May 2020, Arts Access Australia surveyed its members, identifying the key challenges facing the arts and/or disability sector moving forward. That survey revealed that COVID-19 has severely impacted artists and arts workers with disability, with almost 60% of survey respondents suffering an average loss of income of $3,331 per month, with approximately 35% of respondents losing income from live performance, 26% from exhibitions, 27% from sale of artworks, and 34% from development of artwork. 47% of those who have lost income do not receive JobSeeker as they are ineligible or receive another form of income support (DSP, age pension), and so have also not benefitted from the (temporary) uplift in that form of Government support.

Comments from respondents included:

“I can’t afford anything and the Government leaving the DSP recipients off the supplement fortnightly payment has signalled to the rest of Australia that we don’t matter. “

“I’m finding basic costs of living too hard so my engagement as audience has dwindled to almost nil over the past five years. I think many artists who are on low incomes may not recover. “

“Many creative programs and community access have had to close their doors in result to COVID 19 with limited financial support which has caused heightened anxiety and uncertain future.”

As we take tentative steps to coming together again, it is incumbent that none are excluded, that we create environments that are safe and accessible to all and that D/deaf and disabled artists, arts workers and audiences are a part of the mix. As it opens up, the Australian arts and cultural sector needs to operate on the basis that assessing risk around COVID-19 is a personal decision disabled people will make for themselves. The role of any organisation is to work to enable that individual make the right decision. This makes the provision of clear, accurate, comprehensive, timely and honest information essential.

The gains made in digital access and inclusiveness by those traditionally excluded cannot be lost in the rush to return. This is a one-off opportunity to build back inclusively, nurture the expertise of those with lifetimes of problem-solving and negotiating barriers and ensure public subsidy equates to public benefit. However, we believe that the sector needs specific guidance to maintain (and improve) access and inclusiveness for disabled artists, employees and audiences.

An understanding of the Social Model of Disability and the legal framework underpinning the Disability Discrimination Act, together with active participation by disabled people, must inform all decision-making, and responsibilities to the public. Collaboration with D/deaf and disabled artists, audiences and stakeholders – real and potential – is key to this process. Best practice also requires an organisation properly assess the effect of the decisions they propose to make in relation to disability, in the same way that any well-run and prudent organisation conducts appropriate risk assessments of plans or proposed decisions, carried out with professional experts, shared widely and clearly, and covers changes to all aspects of operations as a consequence of COVID-19.

AAA has produced (but not yet published) guidance for the arts and cultural sectors to support disability inclusion, as COVID-19 public health restrictions are eased, and organisations start to plan re-opening.

PLEASE NOTE: These are different to the Principles identified earlier in this Submission, recommended in response to the Terms of Reference 3. The draft Principles provided in CONFIDENTIAL Annexure “B” are intended to specifically, and only, relate to organisations planning to re-open or re-start operations as COVID -19 public health and safety measures are lifted.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE: These draft Principles, as drafted, do not have the support or endorsement of Access Arts (which, otherwise joins in this Submission).

AAA is currently consulting with the arts and disability sector in relation to the Principles, before they are finalised and published. It is for this reason that we seek confidentiality in relation to this document. These principles were originally developed and published in the UK in September 2020 by campaigning arts and cultural organisations, We Shall Not Be Removed, Attitude is Everything, Paraorchestra, Ramps on the Moon & What Next?. AAA is indebted to their great work and is grateful for their kind permission to use those principles as the basis for Principles tailored for the Australian context. The Principles offer practical guidance to arts and cultural organisations to support disabled artists, audiences, visitors, participants and employees as the sector moves into “recovery”.

Whilst we might hope that all arts and cultural organisations recognise the importance and value of including the needs of disabled artists, arts workers, audiences and participants in their planning, and that they will adopt and implement these Principles, our experience tells us otherwise. It is essential to provide mechanisms that encourage organisations to adopt these Principles. We strongly encourage the Committee to recommend that any public sector program, or program funded at least in part by the public sector (whether Commonwealth, State or Territory, or local government), that provides funding or other support for Australian arts and cultural organisations or Australian artists or performers and their work to create jobs, restart programs or create new activities as part of encouraging or supporting COVID-19 recovery includes, as a mandatory condition of funding, and a mandatory requirement of grant acquittal, that every program recipient must adopt and implement these Principles.

In particular, and without limiting the previous recommendation, the Office of the Arts requires all organisations that are funded under the Australian Government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund or the Live Music Australia program to adopt and implement these Principles and, through grant acquittal, be accountable for their implementation.

Annexure ‘A’ Organisations making this submission

Arts Access Australia – National

Access Arts – Queensland

Accessible Arts – NSW

Arts Access Victoria – Victoria

DADAA – Western Australia

Incite Arts – Northern Territory