Musicians, performers and other artists may worry that being too political will alienate their audiences. But polling shows that audiences are far more likely to take action if their favourite Australian artists invite them to.
Tue 1 Sep 2026 10.59 AEST
Photo: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi
“Humanity is not an abstract concept. It becomes truly meaningful and tangible precisely when it begins to disappear.” This is the message at the heart of Ai Wei Wei’s beautifully presented essay Manifesto Without Borders, and it’s a message that is as uplifting as it is timely.
In an interview with ABC released on Tuesday, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, suggested that the NSW Government’s plans to sell additional carbon offset credits in return for the Great Koala National Park represents a "common-sense" approach.
Musicians, performers and other artists may worry that being too political will alienate their audiences. But polling shows that audiences are far more likely to take action if their favourite Australian artists invite them to.
When asked whether they contacted politicians or signed a petition about climate change, the responses were low in a 2025 poll. But when asked whether they would take action following an invitation from their favourite Australian music artist, the responses increased drastically.
Only 5% of respondents said they had contacted politicians or government officials about climate change, but 28% said they would if their favourite music artist asked them to. Of those surveyed, 17% said they had signed a petition on climate change in the past year, but 54% would if asked. And 70% of respondents would talk to family, friends or others if a favourite music artist asked them.
These results track with similar surveys in the United States run by Planet Reimagined, which found that music fans want to hear from artists about climate change.
And you can see it in action. Earlier this year when Australian musicians fronted the “Tax gas, not beer” campaign, people responded in large numbers both online and by heading down to their local pub taking a photo of themselves and posting with the hashtag on social media. This campaign helped spread the message of fairly taxing Australian gas through the community.
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While the polling in the graph above specifically relates to climate policies, artists have a platform from which they can communicate on issues they care about. One might be the paucity of arts funding in Australia.
When you compare Australia with the rest of the developed world, we do very poorly. Australia spends around half as much as France and far less than the Nordic countries. If Australia were to spend the OECD average, that would mean an extra $5 billion per year for arts funding. That’s billion with a “b”. To put that into perspective, Creative Australia, the federal body for arts funding, has an annual budget of $317 million dollars. A doubling of the federal contribution to the arts would still leave us well short of the OECD average.
While the common narrative is that governments can’t afford such profligate spending, there are plenty of ways that Australia could raise more revenue. Looking back to our friends at the OECD again, Australia collects far less tax than other developed countries.
Collecting more tax doesn’t mean increasing the tax that you pay on your income. Instead, if Australia were to cut fossil fuel subsidies and introduce a 25% gas export tax, there would be an extra $33 billion per year that Australia could spend on the arts, with plenty left over to for popular policies like putting dental in Medicare or scrapping the cuts to the NDIS.
Artists have an opportunity to speak with their audiences to make positive change. Their audiences are listening.
