The government thought most would be sole traders, who are eligible for JobKeeper, but apparently not.

Last week’s meeting between state arts ministers and their federal counterpart Paul Fletcher was described by one source as “awkward”.

The state ministers, who included South Australian Liberal Premier Steven Marshall, and a proxy for NSW Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian, prepared a communique that went much further than the federal government would accept.

For example, it said the meeting “noted the disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on the cultural and creative industries and subsectors in Australia, including the extent of business closure, employment and income loss for artists, arts workers and arts organisations”.

Potential benefit

It “discussed the benefit that the JobKeeper wage subsidy program has provided to those arts organisations that have been able to access the program”.

And it “discussed the significant potential benefit for the sector, from JobKeeper being extended beyond the program’s current expiry date; and from its eligibility rules being broadened to support the significant number of organisations, freelance and casual artists and arts workers, and employees of publicly owned or operated arts and cultural facilities that have been unable to access the program”.

The states also wanted the meeting to have “discussed the role that the Commonwealth government could play in sharing the financial risk of a staged return to operations for arts and cultural sector organisations, given the challenges presented by necessary social distancing”.

And “the potential for a Commonwealth-supported innovation fund aimed at supporting arts and cultural sector organisations to respond to the challenges presented by COVID-19”.

None of this was in the communique Fletcher wanted to release afterwards.

The meeting ended in a stand-off, with no communique released at all. It is understood Marshall took up the case with Morrison at Friday’s national cabinet meeting and now, the PM says, plans are afoot.

How broad remains to be seen.

He said on Monday “we’ve been looking closely at the entertainment industry” and suggested that large productions, stage or screen, which ground to a sudden halt would receive capital injections to enable them to get going again.

Labor’s Tony Burke, who has advocated for the sector from the get-go, is worried it may not be comprehensive enough.

“Today there’s finally a glimmer of hope for these workers. Hopefully there’s meaningful support on the way. It would be a cruel hoax to raise expectations and then let people down.”