STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms BELL (Moncrieff) (16:36): I rise to speak on the growing lack of accountability within this government and its funded bodies. When government promises something, Australians expect it to deliver. And when taxpayer dollars are spent, it's expected that they reach their intended recipients.

Creative Australia says its Australian Cultural Fund is '100 per cent for artists, 100 per cent to artists'. So how did a political blog receive more than $669,000 through this scheme? Well, maybe it comes down to the fact that Creative Australia staff were caught coaching them through their second application attempt, to help them 'fit' into the criteria.

Emails from Creative Australia show that the application hit a roadblock because it had nothing to do with arts or culture. By any commonsense reading, this blog does not meet the intent of the funding. It has even admitted it does not pay its writers—or so-called artists—despite the fund's purpose of directly supporting artists.

Meanwhile, genuine artists, performers and writers are competing for limited support while a politically aligned publication enjoys the benefits of an arts funding scheme. Is this yet another example of Labor's jobs for mates? We don't know, since the Minister for the Arts has failed to respond to my letter, now more than two weeks old.

Real artists deserve support and Australian taxpayers deserve accountability from their government.