Alan Kohler is one of Australia’s most experienced commentators and journalists. Alan is the founder of Eureka Report, Australia’s most successful investment newsletter, and Business Spectator, a 24-hour free business news and commentary website. He also hosts Inside Business, a half-hour Sunday programme on the ABC, is the finance presenter on the ABC News - and producer of the nightly graph (or two).
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Comments on this article
Comments PolicyYes, the ALP needs to stop the "Chardonnay Socialists" deserting it for the Greens and maybe win some back... it may be able to pick up a Victorian seat to offset its loses elsewhere.
I wish Juliar well with this ploy.
Well said :
“While every man (and I suspect he meant women too) has the potential to create beautiful things, many are convinced they can only be spectators. Such individuals congregate in galleries, theatres, underground music venues to drink away their self-loathing and receive the gift of art from the priests of their religion – the artists.”
Actually the most important in receiving the gift of art is also to exercise the viewers mind and in doing so help to produce new artists. It is sad that the “Public Space Street Artist” one can imagine would be very close to some labor social values has been forgotten by the labor policies, but then once again this legalmentarians cannot get a single policy right anyway.
Would it be nice for the Government to help Artists performing in Public Spaces with a Public Liability support system for painters, sculptors, mimes, musicians etc... performing live in public.
Many great artists cannot perform in public because they cannot afford the ridiculously high insurance premium, so they cannot obtain a trading license from the councils because they need to show first the Public Liability insurance they cannot pay for anymore.
As George Mathieu would have said, performing art live in public creates vocations and is as important as funding museums full of too many “cold” static reflections, performing live enables your mind to exercise, you don't see a painting, your mind sees it first, same for sculpture, music....
ONLY ! one quarter of a Billion, WOW what a tiny bribe, this amount sounds so small when you package it up as you have in this piece. Or I could say what I realy think and that is what another waste, if the intent was to support the arts it would maybe have some honour to it, but as a blatant bribe, no honour.
I disagree with the reviving xenophobic comment I do not believe that was the intention but if it can be whipped up as a drama then thats what the media does and Mr Abbott will love to continue it and make sure it becomes the main issue we look at and not the problem with the 457 visa's of course it is being abused it would be profitable. The safe guards inspectors how many are there to go out into the field and check. Tell me how many of those 457 workers are going to complain about exploitation???? The unions who picketted a work place they were trades men without jobs and there were 457 workers doing jobs they could be doing that was not an illusion??? This is how it goes big business or it's backers will now attempt to destroy that group financially unions do not have the resources to fight protracted cases. This is the consequence for protesting cheek of those rabid unionists wanting jobs for Australians. Mr Howard made sure that he neutered the unions but big business like Mr Howard will go one step too far and people will begin to return to the unions and the same fight will begin again until balance returns.