Abstract
'In 2016 the arts in Australia inhabit a dystopian world. It could be described as a place of absurdist contradictions, where only those who have mastered the arcane rules of the Hunger Games have any chance of surviving. Possibly the greatest change is that arts funding is now a partisan political issue in a way that it has not been for some generations. In the past there were concerns about the internal politics of art bureaucracies, but now the allocation of funds to support the arts (or not) has become a party‑political issue. The Commonwealth Government recently presided over the greatest reduction in arts funding in Australian history, but when questioned on this in a public forum, the art‑loving/art collecting Prime Minister was unaware of the impact of his party's budgets on the arts.1 It is probably unfair to blame the current Prime Minister for the devastation that was wrought in the time of his predecessor. Many of the policies from 2013 to 2015 in other areas - health, education, social security - continue to have unfortunate consequences and damage is not so easily undone. In relative terms, the arts budget is a small proportion of overall expenditure. In 2016-17 the total allocation for Arts and Cultural Heritage (excluding broadcasting) was $1,252 million. Compared with a Defence budget of $27,155 million, this seems miniscule, easily overlooked when devising the grand narrative of government.2 Restoring funds to the arts would have the fringe benefit of once again making the arts politically neutral, which surely must have its attractions. ...'
