Tony Burke flags minimum pay for freelance musicians

Arts Minister Tony Burke says he supports minimum pay for artists as he begins consultations on a national cultural policy.

Chloe Williamson, left, violinist Emma Nixon and bass player Jeremy Edwards in South Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Plumbers and electricians expect to be paid a call-out fee when they do a repair job, but it’s not always the case that double-bass players and other musicians have a pay-day when they go to work.

Bass player and teacher Chloe Williamson said the time had passed when freelance musicians should gratefully accept a gig for no payment other than the privilege of appearing before an audience.

“Exposure doesn’t pay the bills,” said the Brisbane musician. “Once upon a time there used to be genuine opportunities for exposure, where you had industry people there and you would build connections. But playing for an audience is not exposure.”

Williamson, an organiser with the MEAA union, has been part of a campaign calling for minimum payment for freelance musicians of $250 per gig.

The idea has been endorsed in principle in five states and territories, and the federal government has minimum pay in the mix as it begins consultations on a national cultural policy.

Arts Minister Tony Burke. Picture: Liam Kidston

Arts Minister Tony Burke, who also holds the employment and workplace relations portfolio, said artists deserved to be paid at least the minimum wage, along with all working Australians.

“We are a nation of minimum wages and minimum standards,” he said.

“It is absurd the number of times that artists are expected to perform where their payment is exposure. We don’t do it to other workers.”

Mr Burke from next week will begin meetings around the country about the cultural policy, which he has described as a “comprehensive roadmap” for Australia’s arts and cultural sector.

He said the absence of such a guiding document exposed vulnerabilities in the arts sector during the pandemic, when many freelance or casual arts workers were unable to access JobKeeper payments.

The cultural policy will consider artists not only as creative producers but as workers who earn an income.

“I believe there will be opportunities to be able to improve job security in different sections of the sector,” Mr Burke said. “But I’m not naive – it’s going to be complicated to fix and it’s going to be a lot of work.”

Mr Burke said discussion about the cultural policy would include Australian content on streaming services, an expanded remit for the Australia Council to include the philanthropic and commercial sectors, and the health of the national collecting institutions.

The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, for example, requires millions of dollars of repairs and Mr Burke said he had seen buckets on the floor to catch leaks during rain.

“It had got to a state that, in a nation like Australia, should have been unthinkable,” he said.

No funding commitments have yet been made for the cultural policy, which Mr Burke said would be completed by the year’s end.