Australia’s New National Cultural Policy Will Not Include Major Art Institutions

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Dec. 2, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The Australian government will launch a new National Cultural Policy to bring direction and vision to the arts, entertainment and cultural sectors after the creative sector suffered heavily from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

The federal government will release the policy in Melbourne on Jan. 30 after months of consultations and will build on arts policies by the previous Keating and Gillard governments.

However, Arts Minister Tony Burke, at the Woodford Folk Festival on Dec. 30, said that major art collecting institutions and museums, including the National Museum of Australia, national gallery and archives, and Trove, will not be included in the policy.

Instead, the government will wait to correct the “systematic underfunding” of collecting institutions until the next federal budget.

“The arts are central to our culture. And it is through the arts that we build our identity as a nation and a people. The arts contain, nurture and indeed protect our very sense of self,” Albanese said at the Woodford Folk Festival.

The policy will be built on five pillars, including putting “First Nations” first, reflecting the diversity of all Australians, supporting the artists, providing support to sustain the arts and culture, and ensuring stories reach audiences locally and abroad.

“The arts, entertainment and cultural sector is important to who we are as Australians and plays a vital role in the economy,” Burke said in a statement.

“A new National Cultural Policy is the foundation for a better future for Australian artists.”

“Together, we can bring new direction and vision to a critical sector that does so much to enrich Australians’ lives,” Burke said.

The plan follows the push from independent MPs like Dr Sophie Scamps, who choose to run on a platform for helping the arts and culture sectors.

Scamps has a 7-point plan for the rejuvenation of the arts sector and is seeking to celebrate and protect Australia’s unique Indigenous heritage and culture, develop a national strategy for arts and culture, support arts education in schools, TAFE and across the tertiary sector, and grow employment through national arts and creative industries.

The economic contribution of the arts is significant, with the arts and entertainment sector contributing $14.7 billion per year in value added (GDP),” Scamps said.

“As Australia emerges and rebuilds post-pandemic, we will need to invest in arts and culture to build confidence and resilience and to reinvigorate a pride in our cultural identity. This cultural revitalisation and innovative problem solving will be vital in fostering a more sustainable and compassionate way of life.”

Content Quotas for Australian TV and Film

Burke also signalled that the federal government would be looking to address systemic issues in the domestic television and film industry, which he said were at an “automatic structural disadvantage'' due to Australia’s small English-speaking population, which made overseas content cheaper to produce.

“The only way you fix that disadvantage is with Australian content quotas,” he said.

Although streaming services like Netflix and Stan have Australian content, they do not have quotas like Foxtel and free-to-air television channels.

The comments by Burke come after Screen Producers Australia (SPA) proposed in a submission (pdf) to the government that streaming services must invest 20 percent of locally sourced revenue into commissioning new Australian content.

Under the current Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) regulations, all commercial television services must broadcast 55 percent of Australian content between 6 a.m. and midnight on primary channels and 1,460 hours of Australian content between 6 a.m. and midnight on non-primary channels.

Burke also vowed to treat “artists as workers” and said laws needed to be kept up to date to ensure fair remuneration for authors, highlighting the contrast between the pre-existing established royalties rights for authors when books were borrowed from libraries, but which do not cover authors of the same work if it was an e-book.

Arts Budget Ahead of Policy

Prior to the release of the National Cultural Policy, the Albanese government launched immediate support measures for the Australian arts and culture sector.

In a media statement on the night of the Albanese government’s 2022-23 government budget, he noted that the federal government would support creative talent, including providing $5 million (US $3.4 million) to the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) Dance College to help them to continue delivering training in traditional and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance to young people.

Support of $5 million will also be provided to the National Institute of Dramatic Art and $2.4 million to expand the Bundanon art museum.

The government will also invest in the arts and culture sector by providing $80 million for the National Aboriginal Art Gallery to establish a facility to display Australia’s most significant First Nations artists.

Perth’s Aboriginal Cultural Centre to receive the support of $50 million to develop an institution to showcase Western Australia’s First Nations history and culture.

Tasmania’s Burnie Cultural Precinct will also receive $13 million in government support for regional arts and cultural institutions.

The national Artbank program provides support to living Australian artists through the acquisition of their work and promotes the value of Australian contemporary art to the broader public by making this work available through an art leasing scheme.

Artbank is part of the Australian Government Office for the Arts and has supported the creative arts industry since 1980.

The program also highlighted in their Artbank Collection Plan 2021-2023 (pdf) identified gaps of regional diversity to be targeted, including non-indigenous Western Australian artists, non-indigenous South Australian artists, Queensland artists, Far North Queensland artists, and South East First Nations artists including NSW, VIC and TAS.