Art is hoping for repairs under the new government

After a campaign in which art was almost forgotten, the Labor government could see a return to the national policies that govern the sector.

“I think we still need to figure out what the outcome is, but it definitely stops nine years of austerity by the coalition government,” said AAP Dr Ben Eltam of Monash University.

Morrison’s $ 90 billion government’s JobKeeper program has excluded many art workers due to the volatile nature of employment in the sector, while its $ 220 million RISE fund, dedicated specifically to arts and entertainment in 2020-22, will end in 2022 -23 years.

At the same time, the coalition’s latest budget cut arts funding by $ 190 million, or 20 percent, according to figures from the Fund the Arts lobby group, which is advised by Dr. Eltem.

The National Meeting of Ministers of Arts and Culture was abolished under Morrison, while the Federal Department of Arts was consumed by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

And all the while there was no unifying national policy to promote the arts and culture sectors of Australia.

The change of government came as the sector struggled to recover from the worst crisis of the century, and live music, theater and comedy shows continued to be canceled on a regular basis.

“Thus, the performing arts are still largely coming out of the pandemic, and the damage caused by this very sharp recession in the cultural industry. It will take years to recover,” said Dr. Eltem.

He believes that while Labor’s campaign commitments to the sector have been modest, the balance of the Greens in the Senate could lead to the Albanian government spending more on art.

Labor has promised to return to the broad national cultural policies of the Keating and Gilard era, keep funding decisions at a distance from the government and look at a national insurance scheme for live performances.

His biggest promises were $ 80 million for the National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs and $ 84 million for ABC.