By Chris Sexton , Legal Officer
First published in ART+law September, 2003
A stop press release. After much procrastination by Governments over the years, the ALP has introduced a Private Member’s Bill, which commits itself to implementing the visual arts community’s priority to introduce a resale royalty scheme. Put simply, this scheme will allow artists to an entitlement to a continuing financial benefit from their work which if, at a later stage, it is sold for a higher value.
The issue is especially significant for Indigenous artists, their families and heirs, who have lost out over the years from an increased financial reward in the price of the original artwork because of the popular market for Indigenous artwork.
This is particularly good news on the political front to progress this long, overlooked issue to introduce a resale royalty arrangement. It is also worth noting that despite, a formal recommendation last year by the Myer Report (commissioned by the Federal Government) as a measure to protect the rights of visual artists and crafts practitioners, little has been done to enshrine this issue into legislation.
