THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
LABOR WILL RETURN FUNDING TO TROVE
A Shorten Labor Government will reverse the Abbott-Turnbull Government's cruel cuts to Trove, allowing the National Library to continue providing its unique online collection of Australian culture and history for current and future generations.
Trove is an initiative of the National Library of Australia, and provides online access to collections of books, photographs, newspapers, maps and historical documents. It is one of the largest digital cultural collections in the world, used by everyone from academics, to schoolteachers, to historians.
Trove is essential national research infrastructure. It has some 471 million items available for free access, and has more than 20 million unique users every year. Museums, libraries, galleries, archives, historical societies and research bodies all across Australia access it every day.
The Abbott-Turnbull Government has stripped $37 million from our national institutions, including the National Library, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the National Archives of Australia. As a result of the nearly $6 million cut from the National Library, it has no longer been able to provide staffing to add new content to Trove.
Failure to support and invest in this national resource is a poor decision in the digital world of the twenty-first century. The destruction of an innovative resource like Trove works against Australia's transition to a knowledge-based economy.
Labor cares about our national institutions and the maintenance of Trove as a living information resource. We will deliver $3 million a year over four years so it can resume adding new content to Trove and keep building on its success.
The destruction of Trove is yet another area where Prime Minister Turnbull says one thing and does another. He says he supports Australian arts and culture, and encourages innovation and creativity. Yet he is happy to destroy a precious information resource.
Labor is the party of arts and culture and we will stand up to protect Trove.
If elected, a Shorten Labor Government will restore the arts and creative industries to their rightful place in Australia's cultural and economic life. Our plan for a more creative Australia includes:
- Restoring the standing of the Australia Council for the Arts by providing new funding from 2017, closing the Turnbull Governments ministerial slush fund called Catalyst and returning all remaining money to the independent Australia Council.
- Supporting local drama production by the ABC. New funding for local drama will foster creative skills development for Australian writers, producers and actors and will help to reinvigorate the local screen industry.
- Increasing the Regional Arts Fund over four years, increasing employment and professional development opportunities for regional and remote artists.
- Investing in Australia's contemporary live music industry by bringing the Live Music Office and the Australian Music Centre under the umbrella of an expanded Sounds Australia to support the development of Australia's live music export industry.
For more information on Labor's plans to properly fund Trove, visit: www.100positivepolicies.org.au/restoring_trove_fact_sheet
THURSDAY, 16 JUNE 2016
