Thank you, Professor Baker, and thank you to ASPIRE for bringing together such a diverse and thoughtful group of leaders, researchers, practitioners and community advocates.

I acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are part of this group today.

So, yes, I do know this building quite well, although I was rarely allowed in this part of it. Back in the 1980’s, I was a journalist in the press gallery. And so I'm much more familiar with the Non-Members Bar than the Members Bar and dining area. But it's always a pleasure to be here. It's such a gorgeous place that's been preserved. So people like me can wallow in nostalgia when I walk up those steps. And remember the cold winter's days when I used to stand on those steps waiting for Bob Hawke or Paul Keating to deign us with a comment at seven in the morning.

I think the conversation you’re having here today is so timely and relevant. A week or so ago, I attended a fundraising performance for veterans’ support groups, and the final star band of the event was one that came together through Guitars for Vets, a program that I've seen in action in my electorate, thanks to the work of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy group.

Now some people in this band had never played an instrument before joining and taking part in a weekly class. Some of them have a lot of experience, and you can see the joy of them sharing their experience with others. But what the men - and it is it is men - what the men, their wives, their families, their friends had told me is that this is not just a fun music class. The impact for each of them varies, but it is connection. It's confidence. It's purpose. It might be the one time in the week where they leave their home on their own. It's life changing, and it's lifesaving. All thanks to ‘Hey Jude’ on guitar.

So I'm really proud that the Guitars for Veterans program has recently received some additional funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs. And it's a successful example of that whole assumption approach to health and arts that I would like to see a lot more of.

And it really points to the central question posed by today's forums, that if arts, culture, connection, and civic participation already improve health, why are they still treated as peripheral to the health system?

It goes to the heart of how we think about well-being in Australia.

For generations, we've built systems that are really good at treating illness, but thought too narrowly about what determines our health in the first place.

I think everyone in this room knows that our health and wellbeing are shaped long before we visit a GP, specialist or emergency department. They are shaped by our communities and our place within them.They are shaped in libraries and local theatres, choirs, festivals and community arts centres, museums, book clubs and galleries.

These are the places where people gather, tell stories and find belonging.

The question is not whether these things matter, because the evidence overwhelmingly shows that they do.

The question is how governments, institutions and communities can better recognise, value and strengthen these assets as part of our broader health and social infrastructure.

That ambition aligns directly with the Albanese Government's commitment to wellbeing, social cohesion and stronger communities.

As Special Envoy for the Arts, I have seen firsthand the extraordinary contribution arts and culture make to individual wellbeing and community vitality.

Their value is sometimes reduced to entertainment or economic output. But it runs much deeper: strengthening communities, supporting wellbeing and creating connection and belonging.

It’s not easy to quantify the value of a teenager finding confidence through theatre, a veteran working through PTSD through music, or an older Australian finding community in a choir.

Labor has long recognised the value of the arts in these terms.

Back in 1975, Gough Whitlam said that:

“Opportunities for cultural and artistic enjoyment should be provided as readily, and as equally as opportunities for education and health. It may even be argued that the enjoyment of the arts is an essential part of education and health… I regard that as a duty of social democratic governments such as mine”

Now I don't think the term ‘social prescribing’ was invented then, but you can see that Gough was on the same wavelength.

Increasingly, the contribution arts participation makes to health and wellbeing is supported by robust evidence, not just anecdotes.

Creative Australia’s research suggests reading fiction for just five minutes can reduce stress by almost 20 per cent, while Australians who read almost every day have a substantially lower risk of depression.

I particularly like that as someone who has to read before I fall asleep - and it has to be a novel - not some heavy nonfiction that is going to make me worry more about the world.

The benefits extend far beyond reading. Among Australians actively engaged in music, 92 per cent say attending live music has a big or very big impact on their wellbeing and happiness, while 72 per cent say it helps them deal with stress, anxiety or depression.

At a time when loneliness, chronic disease, mental health challenges and social fragmentation are growing concerns, that contribution is more important than ever.

The Albanese Government's National Cultural Policy, Revive, recognises that arts and culture are woven into our health, education, community life and social wellbeing.

We have begun to back that belief with investment, and I’ll give a few examples of that.

Through Revive, the Government has invested $4.3 million in two pilot initiatives supporting access to art and music therapy: a $1 million grant to Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia and $3.3 million for a Primary Health Network Creative Therapies Pilot administered through the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

These may be modest investments, but they demonstrate the direction we want to travel: practical cross-portfolio collaboration recognising how creative therapies can improve wellbeing and complement conventional healthcare.

Today's discussion is not about replacing clinical care, but recognising that healthier communities require more than clinical services alone.

This is also where social prescribing offers real potential.

The Albanese Government recognises that good health is shaped by more than what happens in hospitals and consulting rooms. Connecting people with cultural activities in their communities can help address isolation, strengthen social connection and support wellbeing.

But if social prescribing is to become a more established part of healthcare, we need to build the evidence and policy pathways that will support that change.

Those of us who work in arts and culture do not need much convincing that participation can improve if not transform people’s lives. But ultimately, the case also needs to be made beyond the arts portfolio, to our colleagues in health, finance and across government, who are making difficult decisions about competing priorities and where public investment can make the greatest difference. And I would like to see social prescribing have a genuine social license.

So we need to build an evidence base that speaks to the questions they will reasonably ask.

We need to know which interventions work, for whom and under what circumstances; whether the benefits are lasting; whether they reduce pressure elsewhere in the health system; and whether they can be delivered cost-effectively at scale.

That means rigorous trials, longitudinal evidence and consistent measures across programs and communities. We need to understand what interventions cost, how people are referred and supported, and whether successful models can be replicated.

We also need to think carefully about the policy pathway. Social prescribing crosses traditional portfolio boundaries, so responsibility does not sit neatly with any one part of government. Building the case will require researchers, health professionals, cultural organisations and communities to work together: designing programs with evaluation built in from the beginning, identifying the outcomes government needs to see, and developing models that can be tested before being scaled.

And we should be prepared to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Not every intervention will work for every person or every community. Finding out what does not work is part of building a credible evidence base for what does.

That is where a forum like this can make a real contribution. The opportunity is not simply to make the case that arts and culture are good for us. It is to identify what evidence would persuade decision-makers beyond the arts portfolio, how we generate that evidence, and what practical steps could take social prescribing from promising practice towards a more established place in Australian public policy.

If we can do that, we can connect our health system more effectively with the extraordinary community assets that already exist around us. The arts are a powerful example.

Whether a local festival, multicultural performance, regional gallery, community choir or neighbourhood library, these are places where people come together.

The Albanese Government recognises the value of community arts practice and we’ve acted to deliver better support for it.

As a result of the Albanese Government's additional funding for Creative Australia, investment in community arts and cultural development practice has more than doubled, reaching $11.3 million in 2024-25.

We have also increased support for the small-to-medium sector, with 159 organisations now receiving multi-year investment through Creative Australia – a 75 per cent increase on the number funded before Revive.
Among those newly funded are organisations doing exactly the kind of work we are discussing today, including The Torch, Beyond Empathy and Arts Access Victoria, which are helping strengthen wellbeing, inclusion and social connection across Australia.

Creative Australia's National Arts Participation Survey found three in five Australians believe cultural experiences help them connect with others, while nearly three-quarters say they help them understand different perspectives. At a time of growing loneliness and social fragmentation, those opportunities to gather and connect are profoundly important.

But if arts and culture are to play this role fully, and if social prescribing is to deliver equitable outcomes, those opportunities must be accessible to all.

I know this is a focus for today's forum, including ensuring access for people who face barriers to participating in cultural life.

Removing those barriers is also a priority for the Albanese Government.

Through Equity: The Arts and Disability Associated Plan, we are working to improve access and inclusion for Deaf and disabled artists, arts workers and audiences, backed by an $8.1 million investment.

We’re also working to remove geographic barriers to access. Regional communities host extraordinary creative talent but often face additional barriers to participation. That’s why Revive has expanded regional opportunities, with Commonwealth support for creativity in regional Australia increasing by 68 per cent since the Albanese Government came to office.

Many of the assets that generate health and wellbeing are already present in our communities. The task is to recognise their value, fund them properly, connect them more effectively and create the policy settings that allow them to flourish.

And that's why what you're doing today is so important.

It brings together expertise from health, arts and culture, research, government, philanthropy and community services to explore how we can better mobilise the resources we already have.

The Albanese Government welcomes that conversation.

Building a healthier Australia is not the responsibility of any single portfolio, nor of government alone.
It requires partnership, collaboration and a willingness to look beyond traditional boundaries.

To return to the question that has brought us together today, arts and culture should not sit at the periphery of how we think about health and wellbeing.

They have a crucial role to play. Not simply as instruments of health or social policy, but because they are fundamental to a healthy, connected and thriving society.

I want to thank you, on behalf of the Government, for your work in this important policy area and I look forward to hearing more about the ideas that emerge from your discussions today.