Parliament echoes a Senate inquiry into arts budget cuts

The call by 16 arts associations for a Senate inquiry into the budget cuts to the Australia Council for the Arts – as reported by TMN on Tuesday – has been echoed by a number of politicians.

Represented by ArtsPeak, the associations condemned Federal Minister for the Arts George Brandis’ lack of consultation with the sector or the Council before he initiated cuts up to $104.8 million over the next four years.

They also wanted an inquiry to examine the need for a second arts funding body, the new National Programme for Excellence in the Arts. Initiated by Brandis, he states that the new body will deliver more funds to a greater variety of arts projects.

Mark Dreyfus QC, Shadow Minister for the Arts, referred to these cuts as “the Coalition’s new arts slush fund.”

He called for an inquiry in order to “investigate why it is necessary to create a new arts bureaucracy under the control of Senator Brandis.”

“It will look at how Australian artists will be affected by this politically-motivated decision to strip $105 million from the independent Australia Council,” he said.

“We will force Senator Brandis to have the public consultation he has avoided so far.”

Adam Bandt, arts spokesperson for The Greens, referred to Brandis as “the Arts Minister who says he believes in freedom of speech, but not the ability of Australian artists do their work and speak truth to power.”

In Parliament, Bandt highlighted that the Coalition had cut the Arts Council’s budget by $28.2 million in 2014.

“Now, in their second budget, the Coalition Government has cut even more funding from the Council,” he said.

Gary Higgins, Arts Minister for the Northern Territory, was also concerned at the effects of the cuts.

“I will be raising our concerns with the Federal Minister Senator Brandis,” he said. “I will also be discussing the impacts with my interstate counterparts at the next Meeting of Cultural Ministers.”

Brandis’ actions led to national protests, and to the Council cutting programs. The axing of the six-year funding cycle led to uncertainty in arts and music sectors.

A statement from West Australia’s music association WAM admitted, “At this stage we don’t really know how this will impact the local music community.”

“We are, however, disappointed that the June grants round was cancelled at such short notice. This puts us, and a number of other organisations and individuals, in a sticky position as we had submissions in this round. For WAM in particular, the September round is too late for the current funding request to be useful.”