Peter Garrett MP
Member for Kingsford Smith
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Reconciliation and the Arts
“Today’s article in
The Australian, ‘Ruddock Unready to Decide on Resale Royalties for Visual Art’, which reveals the government’s decision on a resale royalties for visual arts scheme has been delayed will further frustrate Indigenous artists and the visual arts community who have been waiting two and half years for the government to address this issue, Labor spokesman for the Arts, Peter Garrett, said today.
It is clear that despite the Attorney General being in receipt of submissions favouring the introduction of a resale royalty scheme for some time, eleventh-hour lobbying by art galleries and local and overseas-owned auction houses has raised the prospect that it is the big end of town and not the artist’s who will be listened to.
Correspondence from a number of auction houses drafted in part by senior Liberal figure Michael Kroger made public today contain arguments that the Attorney General should reject.
The claim that a resale royalty scheme would impose an ‘arbitrary, unjust and administratively burdensome form of remuneration’ on large auction houses can’t be taken seriously. These businesses have a number of administrative requirements that they have to meet, participation in a resale royalty scheme can clearly be undertaken in the normal course of business.
That Indigenous artists and their families would benefit from a resale royalty scheme is undeniable. The visit to Parliament this week by the Jirrawun Association highlights the importance of a resale royalty scheme for Indigenous artists in particular.
Senior painters Paddy Bedford and Freddie Timms have seen an exponential increase of prices of their paintings in their lifetimes, and critically, they are now using their success as painters to support health initiatives in east Kimberley communities.
This is what having a resale royalty scheme is all about. It is essential that the Attorney General does not put the interests of large auction houses above local Indigenous artists”.
Contact: Kate Pasterfield