Wed, 14th May 2008

Australian Arts suffering under Minister Garrett

The Hon Dr Sharman Stone MP
Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage, the Arts and Indigenous Affairs

Shadow Minister for the Arts, Dr Sharman Stone, said the Rudd Labor Government’s first budget included a litany of broken promises for the Arts.

“Minister Peter Garrett became responsible for Arts promising to increase spending after the ‘terrible’ years of the Howard Government. In fact, the Coalition had boosted Arts funding to record level of $650 million..

“The Budget papers show that the Rudd Labor Government has not delivered as promised on:

- a strategic vision for the Australian Film Industry. The new Screen Australia authority will receive a one-off $103 million grant to establish their new administration and Board, but will see a loss of 28 jobs in the process;

- no money for the Australia Council for the Arts’ theatre and dance action plans;

- no money for the Australian Academy of the Humanities;

- the ArtStart programme has vanished, with no mention, no funding for what was a key Labor commitment prior to the election;

- the new Young and Emerging Artists Fund is to be squeezed out of existing funding; and

- Regional Arts Fund has been cut by $4 million.

And there’s more:

- CrocFest funding is gone;

- Australia on the World Stage funding cancelled; and

- Chamber Music Australia funding cut;

An extra 2 per cent efficiency dividend will drive agencies and institutions to cut touring and new acquisitions, particularly for the National Library, Museums and Galleries

“I am most concerned about the job losses at Screen Australia, especially given the Minister’s guarantee to the Parliament in March that ‘no staff will be disadvantaged’. If losing your job is not being disadvantaged in Kevin Rudd’s Australia, then we really are in a very different world order.

“The Australia Council for the Arts will lose 28 staff, as well as having their grants programme cut by $20 million over the next four years.

“The Rudd Labor Government has clearly either underestimated or deliberately under-funded the establishment of the new Resale Royalties’ Scheme for visual art. The $1.5 over three years will barely cover the cost of establishing the administration, much less provide any funding for education and information about the new scheme for artists, buyers and sellers. Nor is there funding to help indigenous artists, in particular, to draw up wills so future royalties can be properly allocated according to the artists’ wishes.

“While performing and visual arts in Australia might be out of site and out of mind for the new Rudd Labor Government and particularly for Minister Garrett, these cuts will certainly not go unnoticed in thousands of communities and institutions across the country.