Bob Edlin: A guaranteed Govt income for artists....

A guaranteed Govt income for artists – some MPs see merit in Ireland’s scheme but Newsroom didn’t ask ACT or NZ First

In Budget 2025, Vote Arts, Culture and Heritage was funded $403 million in 2025/26 – or $1.5 billion over four years.

The spending initiatives included:

• $2m to Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage to investigate legacy options in remembrance of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attacks.

• $1m to allow for the excavation and care of partial remains of a waka found on Rēkohu Wharekauri Chatham Island.

Opinions will differ on whether that’s good spending from an appropriation which had been lopped by $32.4 million over four years.

Opinions are likely to differ, too, on a proposal being aired by Steve Braunias in a Newsroom article.

He is enthusing about “a progressive new arts wage policy in Ireland”, which pays €325 a week to artists over a three-year period with no strings attached.

His article is headed …

Irish arts policy shames NZ

Opposition MPs smile and wave at a new arts wage policy in Ireland

Braunias tells us the policy has the support and admiration of some Opposition parties in New Zealand—but no firm plans to commit to a similar model.

He can’t tell us what New Zealand First or ACT think about it because (he says) he knew what they would tell him so he didn’t ask them.

Ireland’s new Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) initiative is the subject of Braunias’s admiration – it will give artists a weekly income in the hope of reducing their need for alternative work.

The BIA is the first scheme of its kind in the world.

A pilot scheme has become permanent, with 2000 artists being selected at random—no hoops, no criteria—to receive the weekly €325 wage. Irish author Caelainn Hogan was among those whose name was drawn from a hat in the pilot scheme; she wrote in the Guardian, “I am a freelance writer who, like most artists, has always had to work outside my creative focus to afford to live, constantly worrying I will never be able to afford a home myself or to start a family. As such, the basic income was life-changing.”

According to Hogan, the state’s research found that for every euro the government spent on supporting artists, society received €1.39 in return, and the scheme was estimated to have generated more than €100m in social and economic benefits.

But Braunias laments:

Mulish, timid New Zealand is in no position or state of mind to do anything to actively follow the leader.

He has asked politicians from some parties for their opinions:

“I think the idea is awesome,” said Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, interviewed last Wednesday at the party offices behind Karangahape Road in downtown Auckland.

“We’re absolutely open to it. We’re always open to good ideas. If we were to be in a situation where we could find cross partisan agreement to support our artists and to get something like this off the ground, of course the Greens would be on board with that. I’m in no way, shape or form opposed to the idea. So. Yeah, if you manage to find other political parties who are willing to make this happen, then you’ve got the Greens vote and we’ll do it.”

Labour’s arts spokesperson Rachel Boyack told Braunias:

“It very much has come across my radar.”

But was there any chance, he asked her, of a Labour-led government taking on the scheme?

She found words to form a kind of blockade to the question, and rambled, “I want to be really careful because until we actually see the state of the books, which will happen after the budget, we won’t be in a position to make any commitments to things that we really want to do. But in the medium to long term, I’d really like to see us looking strongly at this and it could be in the short term, but I want to be really careful not to over promise. But what I can definitely say is it’s been raised by the sector by a lot of people with me as an opportunity. And I think it’s something that has real merit.”

Indeed it does, says Braunias – that’s already been proven by Ireland’s own figures.

He quotes Irish culture minister Patrick O’Donovan:

“For the first time in the history of the state we now have, on a permanent basis, a basic income structure that will really revolutionise and, in many ways, set Ireland apart from other countries with regard to how we value culture and creativity.”

What about the maths, the figures, the money?

Braunias says he was alerted to the BIA scheme by economist Brian Easton, who noted that Ireland has about the same population as New Zealand and suggested settling on 2000 artists per three-year term here too. They would be paid at the rate of the Job Seekers benefit—currently $361.42 net a week for over 25-year-olds, which would be treated as taxable income (so any additional earnings would be taxed).

“The scheme would have a direct cost of about $37.6m a year (rising as benefit levels rose). You can hear the fiscal austerity brigade loudly objecting. But the actual cost of the scheme may be near zero. Some recipients will come off social security benefits—the advantage to them will be less stress, more certainty—at zero fiscal cost. Recipients will pay tax on their earnings, adding to fiscal revenue. Given the high level of unemployment, every participant that leaves a job creates the opportunity for an unemployed person to take it—another fiscal gain.”

Braunias describes this as a revolutionary new policy at zero fiscal cost – in fact, it is likely to generate a fiscal gain. Yet it is “seemingly too challenging for Labour and the Greens”.

Jenny Nagle, chair of the New Zealand Society of Authors, enthused:

“Cheers to Ireland who made it policy to value their creatives and writers as workers. The NZSA has been aware of this scheme since the pilot began. The payment alleviates basic financial pressure for Irish writers to leave them free to do what they do best – write! It smooths the humps between royalty cheques, advances, and PLR payments so writers can afford heating, and … eat.”

According to Nagle’s data, NZ authors’ incomes remain below the poverty line—around $16,000 a year,

But Arts minister Paul Goldsmith did not return messages, Braunias says – and:

There was little point in seeking the views of New Zealand First, and no point whatsoever in listening to Act.

Really?

Is he seriously saying he knows how they would have responded, had they been apprised of the data which shows there could be a fiscal benefit from such an initiative?

Or is the case not as persuasive as he insists?

Fair to say, Braunias contacted Christchurch writer Erik Kennedy, a Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand advocate.

He emailed, “I have had strong feelings about the Irish scheme for a while—feelings that I don’t think necessarily make me popular.

“I don’t particularly like it. First, though, I’ll say what’s good about it. I’m sure for those who receive it, it’s wonderful, maybe life-changing. The return on investment for society seems impressive. But many, many people are struggling in the age of $3 / litre fuel and $7.50 coffees, and morally I’d find it hard to defend a programme that was restricted to artists. Lots of workers can use a leg up, not just arts workers.

“Why would we grant from the start that the way to go is an artist’s basic income rather than a universal basic income? Because it’s an easier sell? Because there’s something that seems a little romantic about nurturing talent? As artists, we use our imaginations, and I would prefer to imagine a bigger, more equitable programme. The person that a struggling artist has most in common with is any other person who’s struggling.”

Good points.

Why should a writer be more entitled to a government-paid wage than – says – a ditch-digger?

Or (in response to news of the closure of the McCain plant in Hastings) vegetable-growing and -processing workers?

But Kennedy would like see a real conversation about the idea.

Fair enough. And all going well, participants in the discussion will include politicians of all stripes, who are armed with all the relevant fiscal facts and figures. If they reject the idea, they must demonstrate why the Irish scheme can’t or shouldn’t be replicated in this country.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.