Shorten Labor Government will address Mental Health needs in the Music Industry - Noise11.com
Tony Burke at the Labor Arts Launch at The espy photo by Noise11

Tony Burke at the Labor Arts Launch at The espy photo by Noise11

Shorten Labor Government will address Mental Health needs in the Music Industry

by Paul Cashmere on May 14, 2019

in News,Noise Pro

Under a Shorten Labor Government, mental health issues in the music industry will be supported with $5 million in funding to be allocated to Support Act.

Support Act is the Australian music industry charity helping artists and music workers facing hardship due to illness, injury or other crisis impacting their ability to work.

In its recently announced Arts policy, the man who will be Minister for the Arts Tony Burke MP outlined Labor’s commitment.

Labor recognises that while artists work in situations that risk poor mental health, the work they create stimulates good mental health for all.

Labor will provide $5 million over five years to Support Act, a game changer for the mental health landscape in the industry, and provide ongoing funding of $200,000 to deliver a comprehensive mental health program for people throughout the music industry.

As part of our policy development process Labor will also look to ensure that artists can always access mental health support services and whether peak professional bodies can assist in this. There may be scope to establish a national employee assistance program to fund for professional practicing artists to access quality counselling when they need it.

In composing its Arts program Tony Burke says that “Labor recognises that while artists create significant value for the economy, artists’ work is often casual, precarious and unpredictable”.

Labor plans to clean up the loopholes in Centrelink that currently restricts artist support in unpredictable times.

In the construction of the new Arts policy, Tony Burke references Labor great Gough Whitlam who was the first Prime Minister to recognise the Arts as an industry and pursue an ambitious and independent approach to the cultural institutions of our nation.

In the upcoming Australian election this weekend, it is important for people in the Arts community to consider their future passed on past actions of both the Liberal and Labor parties.

Follow Noise11 on Twitter for news as it happens

For news as it happens follow Noise11 on Facebook

Noise11.com

Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio

Related Posts

Samara Joy
Melbourne International Jazz Festival Reveals Six More Acts for 2025

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival has added six more events including multi-Grammy Award winner Samara Joy making her first Australian appearance.

24 hours ago
Robert De Niro meets The Wiggles from The Wiggles Facebook page
Robert de Niro Joins The Wiggles In New York

The Wiggles has a special guest at their New York show this week. Hollywood legend Robert De Niro took his two year old daughter Gia to the show. Gia is De Niro’s seventh child. De Niro was 79 when she was born to mother Tiffany Chen.

2 days ago
Karnivool by Tobias Sutter
Karnivool Premiere First Song In Four Years ‘Drone’

Karnivool have released ‘Drone’, their first new music in four years.

4 days ago
Chris Cheney and Scott Owen of The Living End at Red Hot Summer 2024. Photo by Peter Walsh, son of Peter Walsh
The Living End Premiere Second New Song of 2025 ‘Strange Place’

The Living End has another new song for 2025. ‘Strange Place’ is starting to piece together the upcoming and still yet untitled ninth album for the band.

4 days ago
Killing Heidi
Killing Heidi and Little Birdy Have Number One and Two Vinyl Albums In Australia This Week

The 25th anniversary release of Killing Heidi’s ‘Reflector’ and the 20th anniversary release of Little Birdy’s ‘BigBigLove’ albums are the number one and number two vinyl selling albums in Australia this week.

4 days ago
AC/DC Etihad Stadium, Rock Or Bust World Tour. Photo by Ros O'Gorman
AC/DC Kick Off First of 15 Euro Dates Before Australia

AC/DC played the first night of their 15 date European tour in Prague, Czechia and the setlist was an exact replica of the final night of the North American tour in Cleveland, Ohio on 28 May.

5 days ago
RocKwiz Live At The Gardens Brian Nankervis and Julia Zemiro
RocKwiz To Go Live At The Gardens

RocKwiz will be breathing in the fresh garden air when it is Live At The Gardens in Melbourne in November.

6 days ago