Grievance Debate - Indigenous Art

Indigenous art is a very important part of Australia's cultural landscape. Recently, it has gained some negative attention with allegations that Indigenous art is a big con job and that the works are actually produced by people who are not Indigenous.

In May, following these allegations being reported in the Australian, the arts minister, Tony Burke, joined with his South Australian and Northern Territory counterparts to announce an inquiry. This was an appropriate step in view of the serious nature of the allegations, but I have to say that I'm very concerned about how poorly this has been managed and how long it has dragged on for. I'm very concerned about the consequences of confidence being damaged in the Aboriginal art market in general, and in the APY Arts Centre Collective and in its constituent artists more specifically. I am concerned that that confidence has been unnecessarily eroded.

I was particularly concerned to learn recently that the APY Arts Centre Collective had been notified that it will not receive funding under the Indigenous Visual Art Industry Support program's open competitive grant round. They were informed of this fact in a letter from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. The letter specifically made references to the 'pending government review into practices at the APY Arts Centre Collective and the seriousness of the matters which are under review'. It is very troubling, simply on the basis of allegations which have not been tested through an independent process, that funding to the APY Arts Centre Collective has been cut.

I am pleased to see that the National Gallery of Australia has conducted its own review, and that that review has cleared the works in question. These were works proposed to be included in the exhibition Ngura Pulka—Epic Country. The review has cleared those works of allegations of improper interference. I do, nevertheless, reiterate my concerns that as this matter drags on it is doing damage to public confidence in Indigenous art and in the Indigenous art market. I use that term very specifically because in my view it is a desirable thing that we have a vigorous and healthy market for Indigenous art.

I think there's a great deal to celebrate when it comes to the Indigenous art scene in Australia. Certainly, in my time as arts minister, visiting Indigenous art fairs like Desert Mob in Alice Springs, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair and the Tarnanthi Festival in Adelaide, I saw an impressive range of works for sale and enthusiastic crowds of buyers—locals, and interstate visitors as well as international visitors. Desert Mob has work by more than 250 artists from over 30 communities across the Central Desert, 9,000 people attend and it contributes an estimated $4 million to the Alice Springs economy. The Darwin fair is even bigger, generating around $15 million.

On one memorable day during my tenure as arts minister, travelling with then South Australian Premier and arts minister Steven Marshall I visited four remote communities and art centres in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, or APY, Lands in the far north of South Australia. In Mimili we met Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, winner of the 2017 Wynne Prize; and Robert Fielding, winner of the 2017 work on paper award at the prestigious NATSIAs. Betty, Robert and the other artists we met showed us numerous works and explained the stories, or jukurrpa, that they represented. After telling one such story, they said, 'Now we will dance it for you.' Their creative generosity was remarkable. In Amata we saw an enormous work comprising a large number of spears, which had previously been exhibited at a gallery in Switzerland. In Pukatja/Ernabella, we visited a new kidney dialysis centre partly funded by money earned through works sold by the APY Art Centre Collective on behalf of member artists. It was a powerful example of the good that can flow because Indigenous people in remote communities can earn an income from their art.

Now, the economic benefits are one thing, but even more important is the way that Indigenous art expresses the distinctive knowledge and perspectives of Indigenous Australians. In turn, it educates non-Indigenous people about the depth and richness of a culture which goes back more than 60,000 years. But all of that is put at risk if the integrity of Indigenous art is threatened by fake art. This is not a new problem. You need only see some of the mass produced junk which is sold to unsuspecting tourists in our big cities. In 2018 a parliamentary committee carefully documented the issues to produce the Report on the impact of inauthentic art and craft in the style of First Nations peoples. Government has responded, including through the National Indigenous Visual Arts Action Plan, which I joined with then Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt to release in late 2021. Key commitments in the plan included a national rollout of digital labelling as a tool to verify the authenticity of artwork, and developing a legislated certification trademark. I hope the current government will take these measures forward.

Indigenous art is rightly celebrated and supported across the political spectrum, and I welcome the emphasis on Indigenous art contained in the national cultural policy released by the current government earlier this year. I do want to encourage the government, if it is holding an inquiry into Aboriginal art and the issues that were the subject of allegations earlier this year, to look at the full range of issues. That might include the notorious carpetbaggers—unscrupulous dealers in Alice Springs and other locations who exploit Indigenous artists and extract works from them without fair payment. It would also include the industrial-scale production in factories, typically in countries in Asia, of work in the style of Indigenous art but of course not authentic Indigenous art.

An inquiry must also, in my view, involve an unbiased and impartial testing of the allegations which have been published about practices within the APY Art Centre Collective. But again I want to emphasise that it is so important that that matter is dealt with quickly, and it is very troubling, from the information I've been provided with, that the APY Art Centre Collective have been told that they are not receiving funding under the current round of funding under the IVAIS scheme, the Indigenous Visual Art Industry Support scheme, because of these allegations, even though there has not been a process to test those allegations. That appears to me to be getting things round the wrong way. I don't think the mere making of allegations is sufficient grounds for funding to be denied, and I am concerned about the impact on artists and on others in the communities within the APY Lands.

I have to say what I saw, as minister, of the operations of the APY Art Centre Collective, both on the APY Lands and at its art gallery and facility in Adelaide, impressed me. I also have to say that what I've seen around our nation of the works of Indigenous artists impressed me. What also impresses me is the work being done to allow those artists to make their work available in the marketplace to those who are interested in buying that work. It was striking to me at both Desert Mob and the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair to see the number of people who had travelled to those events, not just from within the Northern Territory but from around Australia and from other countries, because they wanted to buy high-quality art and they wanted the chance to meet the artists and to understand the stories. That is something to celebrate.

It would be troubling, in my view, if allegations that have been made are not handled in a prompt and expeditious fashion and, as a consequence, damage is done to the vibrancy of the Indigenous art scene and the Indigenous art market. I close again by using the word 'market' very deliberately. I believe it is a very good thing that Indigenous artists are able to sell their work in the marketplace. We should be encouraging that. It would be in my view troubling if the way that the present government is responding to these allegations allows these matters to drag on and does unnecessary and consequential damage to artists and to the market for Indigenous art. I close by expressing my strong support and indeed admiration for the extraordinary talents of Indigenous artists, and I express my gratitude for the privilege I've had to see their work around Australia. (Time expired)