Labor has once again shown leadership by honouring its commitment to introduce a Private Members Bill, by today giving notice that the Resale Royalty Bill 2004 will be introduced into the Senate tomorrow. If passed, a resale royalty scheme for visual artists will be established.
The Bill is designed to implement a key recommendation of the Report of the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft inquiry (The Myer Report published in June 2002).
Despite commissioning the Myer Report, the Howard Government has failed to act on the recommendations.
Currently visual artists producing original works, who sell their work to an art gallery, receive no further income from any future increase in value when the work is resold.
This scheme will create a more equitable system that will bring financial rewards for visual artists more in line with those enjoyed by other artists under the Copyright Act 1968.
Labor’s Resale Royalty Bill 2004 sets a resale right of 5 per cent payable on all acts of resale of artistic work that take place in Australia through an art market intermediary. This will provide a direct financial benefit to visual artists, particularly indigenous artists, following the on-selling of their original artistic works.
The Australia Council’s Report titled ‘Don’t Give up Your Day Job’ stated that on average, Australian visual artists earn a meagre $7,300 P/A from their art. This is not enough.
The introduction of this legislation is one step in the right direction recognising the value of artists in a civil society and creating a new way for visual artists to earn income from their profession.
Contact: Adina Cirson – (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
