Visual artists are one step closer to getting a better deal for their art after the long-awaited Artist Resale Royalty Scheme was introduced to Parliament this week.
Under current laws, artists can turn a profit by selling their works through galleries, but will earn nothing if they are resold later at auction.
The proposed law change would give artists a 5% royalty for resold pieces, which would be footed by a combination of the buyer, the seller and the auction house.
"I certainly think a 5% thing would be a really nice thing to have," artist Karl Maughan said.
"Dick Frizzel famously said in an interview, which I thought was brilliant, 'Well, if a cheque turned up in the mail for $1500, I wouldn't send it back' and he's right – any artist wouldn't send it back."
Webb's Auction House director of art, Charles Ninow, compared the scheme to "going out for a lovely dinner".
"It's always lovely when you're not the one who pays the bill but at the end of the day, somebody does have to pay, otherwise there will be no more lovely dinners but look, we'll get behind it," he said.
During the first debate earlier this week, Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni strongly endorsed the scheme.
"Over 80 countries around the world, including Australia and the United Kingdom and all European Union countries, already have an artist resale royalty scheme," she said.
But the National Party's Arts, Culture and Heritage spokesperson, Simon O'Connor, said it is a "layer of bureaucracy".
"It's an extra set of process and as some have pointed out to me as well, it's effectively a tax."
New Zealand attempted to integrate a similar scheme 15 years ago. The proposal resurfaced as it is a requirement with the country's Free Trade Agreement with the UK.
"It is something they are being forced to do because they signed up to a Free Trade Agreement without looking at the details," ACT Party leader David Seymour said.
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