Labor promises new cultural policy ahead of election

Instead of announcing an arts policy prior to Saturday’s election, the ALP has pledged to develop a national cultural policy instead.

A new cultural policy – the first since the abolition of Creative Australia by the Abbott Government in 2013 – has been promised should Labor be elected to government this Saturday.

Such a policy would centralise First Nations art and culture; reaffirm the need for arms-length arts funding; revive cooperation between Federal, State and Local governments; and examine the potential for a national live events insurance scheme to counteract the sector’s uncertainty as Australia emerges from the pandemic.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts