THE HON. MARK DREYFUS QC, MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
TURNBULL SLASHES THE ARTS IN MYEFO
MYEFO today confirms that Malcolm Turnbull will continue the slash-and-burn approach of the Abbott Government to arts funding.
Malcolm Turnbull has announced more than $46 million worth of further cuts to the arts, including $36.8 million from cultural and collecting entities and $9.6 million from various arts programs.
This MYEFO locks in an $8 million cut to the Australia Council, Senator Brandis had earmarked $8 million of funding ripped from the Australia Council for his new Book Council. The Government has now abolished that body, which has never been fully established nor ever actually met, but will not return its funding to the Australia Council.
These massive cuts will have a devastating impact on the arts and cultural activities right across Australia, but they are only the latest in a succession imposed on the arts sector by the Abbott/Turnbull governments, including:
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More than $100 million of cuts in the 2014 Budget, including $37 million from the national cultural institutions and $25 million from Screen Australia;
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A further $13.2 million cut from the Australia Council, Screen Australia, and the Ministry for the Arts in the 2015 Budget; and
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Most appallingly, $105 million ripped from the Australia Council to fund the Governments ministerial slush fund.
In less than three years in power, the Abbott/Turnbull Government has earned the worst track record on arts policy and arts funding of any modern Australian government.
Some may have hoped that Malcolm Turnbull would take a different approach to the arts than Tony Abbott, but those hopes are now completely dashed with more of the same cuts announced today.
Malcolm Turnbull has matched, if not exceed Tony Abbott in meanness and short-sightedness when it comes to funding the arts.
TUESDAY 15 DECEMBER 2015
