The Hon. Dr Jim Charmers MP

Treasurer of Australia

Department of the Treasury

Langton Crescent

PARKES ACT 2600

24 January 2024

Dear Minister,

The Cultural Gardeners - Australian Cultural Alliance for Climate Justice welcomes the

opportunity to highlight considerations and make recommendations for the 2024-25

Federal Budget.

Cultural Gardeners Alliance is convened by Climarte, Arts Front and Pippa Bailey. We

represent over 300 arts and cultural workers in all states and territories deeply concerned

with taking action on the converging planetary climate and ecological crises. As you will be

aware, humanity faces the combined catastrophes of: climate breakdown, mass extinction

of vital biodiversity and the rapid degradation of critical ecosystems. Australia is at the

forefront of these crises.

We align to First Nations principles of Caring for Country and the Uluru Statement from the

Heart. We also believe it is vitally important that our approach is uniquely Australian to

respect and forefront the great diversity of First Nations people across Australia whose

60,000 years+ of continuous culture honours a unique relationship and responsibility for

Country. There are many cultural influences in Australia and many actors around the world

to align with. We believe these allegiances will be stronger if we start by reconciling with

our past, following First Nations people's lead, consolidating relationships and action in our

places, on this unceded land. Australia's identity reflects the unique biodiversity of this

continent and, led by First Nations cultural knowledges, is deeply rooted in this place that

we take pride in and must protect.

We align to a Just Transition, the framework developed by the trade union movement to

encompass a range of social interventions needed to secure workers' rights and

livelihoods when economies are shifting to sustainable modes that combat climate change

and protect biodiversity. These principles are outlined in the Paris Agreement and are also

embedded in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's). We support

the campaign to add culture to the SDG's and have culture recognised at COP meetings.

Climate and climate impacts are proving to be the greatest threat to culture and the arts in

Australia. We have already seen this with impacts of COVID and the ensuing disasters

that have destroyed studios, production and presentation capacity across the nation. Our

strategic recommendations present an opportunity to be on the front foot with growing

cascading impacts and position our nation as a world leader. We have the capacity in our

cultural sector, this is the moment to activate our potential and a chance for our

government to have a lasting legacy.

We hope you will seriously consider the content and spirit of this submission.

Sincerely,

Pippa Bailey, Co-convener, Cultural Gardeners

Deborah Hart, Co-convener, Cultural Gardeners

Scotia Monkivitch, Creative Recovery Network

……

Cultural Gardeners - Australian Cultural Alliance for Climate Justice,

2024–25 Pre-Budget submission

The establishment of our National Cultural Policy and investment in the creative sector’s

vital role in our society opens the window of opportunity for the potential for synergistic

collaboration. We propose a collaborative partnership between our government and the

creative sector to address the pressing global challenges surrounding climate transition

and adaptation and the imperative of collective responsibility for climate action.

Culture and the arts, whilst largely absent from discussions on strategic societal systemic

change and policy development, are beginning to be recognised as both a driver of climate

change and a key part of the solution. There is opportunity to utilise creative skills to work

intergenerationally across many government departments and sectors to forefront

innovation, focus on equity and justice, and holistic systems thinking in solutions based

practices. The profound impacts of climate change on our cultural heritage and creative

livelihoods necessitates a united effort to envision and create a just and sustainable future

There is an increasing recognition that climate change adaptation and disaster risk

reduction strategies and activities must be integrated, and within the context of sustainable

development. We are building pathways towards mobilising creative solutions for tackling

the climate crisis. We identify in the Measuring What Matters (2023) national wellbeing

framework as a key way to understand resilience to climate change and acknowledge the

impacts of disasters on wellbeing. Cultural activation will support people’s capacity to

manage the disruptions that disasters pose to the wellbeing, goals, and aspirations of

people and communities.

Climate change is a complex issue, not only is it having a profound impact on culture –

from the destruction of heritage, the disruption of artists' livelihoods and the potential

devastation to traditional ways of life – culture also holds the key and can also bring

invaluable lessons and innovative strategies for mitigation and adaptation. From every

perspective, responding to the Climate and Ecological Emergency requires society wide

cultural change.

It is well documented that Australia’s economy lacks complexity - this is relevant and there

has been criticism that our cultural landscape also lacks complexity. Addressing the

Climate Crisis is not simply taking on another agenda item but an opportunity to redraft the

framing of Australian culture, focus on diversity and liberate both tangible and intangible

values in order to enrich the culture as we also embed Climate Justice and transition.

Culture, through the Arts, has unparalleled capacity to enable change. Our diverse

cultures touch everyone, everywhere; encompassing the full range of voices, perspectives

and tools to communicate urgency, mobilise action, and champion sustainable and

justice-led ways of living. Through cultural participation, safeguarding, dialogue,

experiences, narratives, and stories; and through creative images, events and offerings,

culture helps us all to reflect on our attitudes and behaviours and inspires action,

especially when fortified by respect for cultural rights. Harnessing the power of diverse

cultural values and ways of knowing, education and storytelling, art and craft, tangible and

intangible heritage, and design and creativity can in turn guide and scale that action to

create the systems change needed to tackle the climate crises.

Culture-based climate action promotes local solutions to universal problems, filling

gaps in current climate planning through strategies that are inclusive, rights-based,

place-specific, and people-centred, within a framework that recognises the

interdependence of all living things. Despite insufficient emphasis on the key role of culture

in much official disaster management, climate policy and funding, artistic and heritage

voices are on the forefront of work for triple transformation (green, digital, and social),

pursuit of 1.5-degree pathways, and systems change. A persistent lack of formal policy

recognition, however, undermines the vital contribution of culture and ultimately the

effectiveness of global climate action.

The value culture-led solutions can provide to the environmental challenge by

providing an inclusive voice and outlet for pro-climate discussion, stimulating

behaviour change for climate adaptation, using traditional knowledge to design

practical solutions.

The Cultural Gardeners advocate for culture-based climate action; to develop

interventions, solutions, and multilateral action demonstrating the benefits of integrating

culture into climate action; and to provide a space for all nations and communities,

regardless of background or location, to share knowledge, experience, and best practices.

Building on the work of the National Cultural Policy and the deepening investment in the

sustainability and productivity of the creative sector we would like to propose support for

the following initiatives to align the vision and practice of our government and the national

creative sector with the need for collective responsibility for a just and sustainable climate

transition.

Sustained impact, real learning and systems change requires more than incidental

exchange. The diversity of our creative industries and the knowledge and tactics that are

present in our communities contain the potential for deeper learning and collective action.

We propose the following initiatives to concretely manifest this collaboration:

1. First Peoples Voice - Enable First Nations leadership and develop workforce

capacity for activation of culture as mitigation and healing. Acknowledgement of First

Peoples wisdom and cultural protocols enriches self-determination and community-led

practices and is foundational for long term systemic change.

Enabling actions:

● Include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols and work within

climate response planning and activation to highlight the value of First Peoples

cultural heritage and the need for their acknowledgement, leadership, and

protection.

● Give precedence in recovery and mitigation programs to loss of sites of cultural

significance from disasters and prioritise their recovery.

2. Ministerial engagement and financial commitment for participation in the Friends

for Culture-Based Climate Action– representation building political momentum for the

recognition of culture as a uniquely powerful force in climate change policy.

COP28 delivered the most significant outcome for culture in COP history, an

unprecedented political commitment to engaging with cultural heritage, the arts, and

creative industries as a lead in climate adaptation. The first ever multilateral High-Level

Ministerial Dialogue on Culture-based Climate Action, and strong references to cultural

heritage and traditional knowledge in the newly-adopted Global Goal on Adaptation herald

a new era of collaboration on culture and climate. COP28 has opened wider the doors to a

new era of climate action that embraces the power of culture and ancestral wisdom to help

people imagine and realise low-carbon, just, climate resilient futures.

3. Invest in the development of a Cultural Climate Strategy. This would launch a

process to;

● Understand how culture – heritage, arts and creative sector – is already supporting

climate actions and solutions

● Support cultural voices to influence audiences and consumers to understand the

need for a whole of community approach to climate adaptation

● Unite the cultural sector to scale up action on the most pressing issue of our time

● Influence key policies and discussions on adapting to our changing climate,

decarbonising, supporting cultural knowledge keepers, safeguarding heritage and

culture and innovating with our creativity

This collaboration will highlight the role of culture and the arts in addressing climate

change and advocate for a climate perspective integration into decision-making processes.

Mobilising Australia’s artistic, creative and cultural professionals and their products and

services will ensure that the sector is climate responsive, networked and supported to

activate the necessary systems change for climate adaptation. This investment will

spearhead efforts to amplify the contribution of cultural and natural heritage, intangible

cultural heritage and the creative economy to systems change, fostering dialogue and

diverse perspectives.

The strategy would create a collective space for dialogue and action so that societal

change can radiate from our museums, cultural centres, schools, libraries and

communities. Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for culture as a vital

resource has never been greater.

4. Develop a 10-year plan to support creative skill development and structural

change required for a net-zero future that prioritises the arts and cultural sector.

This should be fully funded through adequate and sustainable resourcing for

implementation and monitoring and evaluation of climate response strategies. Therefore,

we also recommend that the Government allocate resources to;

● Build Creatives capacity for disaster preparedness, climate adaptation, enabling

responsive creative future thinking activation.

● Develop strategies and criteria to maintain climate mitigation in our cultural

institutions with robust, interconnects and values-based frameworks that provide

and sustain effective, efficient, high functioning, flexible, adaptable, appropriate

cultural infrastructure which leads capacity for a climate responsive ecology of

artistic, creative and cultural activities

● Invest in development of simple regulations and accreditation system to address

carbon neutral where offsets are a last resort

● Reimagine cultural tourism for a net zero future

● Scale-up culture and heritage-based strategies for enhancing adaptive capacity,

strengthening resilience, avoiding maladaptation, and reducing vulnerability to

climate change impacts, through financial and technical support for solutions,

capacity building, and policy and practice innovations that promote attention to

values, diverse knowledge and support systems; local self-sufficiency; equity; social

cohesion; and inter-cultural understanding.

● Scale-up mitigation activities and responses and, in accordance with national laws

and regulations and within the respective capacities, including the development and

implementation of actions emphasising the role of arts, culture and heritage

programmes in place-based, and people-centred strategies, including a focus on

the cultural dimensions of reducing waste and shifting to more sustainable

production and consumption approaches.

● Promote sustainable and resilient communities by increasing efforts to support

vulnerable people through approaches that value diverse knowledge systems and

cultural expressions and safeguard natural and cultural heritage, anchored in

shared human values of solidarity, care and respect; targeting research and

innovation; and focusing on the specific needs of women, children and youth,

Indigenous Peoples, traditional knowledge holders, local communities and persons

with disabilities, among others.

● Support artists, creatives, indigenous knowledge holders, and culture and heritage

workers and those working in cultural tourism, including women and youth, whose

livelihoods are threatened by climate change or who would benefit from response

measures in the face of green transformation, to maintain culture expression,

heritage transmission, and inclusive, decent work, through context-appropriate

approaches.

● Maximise climate, social, and environmental co-benefits such as social cohesion,

wellbeing, creativity, education and intercultural dialogue, across sectors including

the built and natural environment, agriculture, cities and regions, energy, and care

for habitats and communities, by including the conservation, protection and

safeguarding of cultural heritage and the promotion of culture in adaptation and

mitigation activities.

We urge the government to take a bipartisan approach and enable the many dedicated

people who have been working in this territory for years to accelerate action. We ask for

investment to support integrated planning focused on arts, ecology and responsibility for

climate sustainability, that re-shapes production processes and reduces our carbon

footprint to exceed the Paris Agreement targets, whilst connecting this work into the

interlinked issues of inequality, climate justice and community ecologies;

The urgency of society's vulnerable position impacted through the climate crisis calls upon

us to harness culture’s immense potential as a transformative tool. We look forward to your

insights, collaboration and support. Together we can catalyse change, reimagine our world

and pioneer a sustainable future that embodies the values of creativity, resilience and

collective responsibility.