THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
FIFIELD MUST ABANDON BRANDIS ARTS SLUSH FUND
Malcolm Turnbull has done the right thing in stripping the Arts ministry from Senator George Brandis QC.
Senator Brandis's time as Minister has been a disaster for the Australian arts. He has slashed funding, undermined the Australia Council and caused untold disruption and uncertainty across the arts community, said Shadow Arts Minister Mark Dreyfus QC MP.
It will take more than a change of Minister to undo this damage.
Mr Dreyfus has today written to the new Minister Senator Mitch Fifield to urge him to reconsider Senator Brandis's most destructive policy his decision to slash $105 million from the Australia Council and create his own ministerial arts slush fund.
This attack on the Australia Council and independent arts funding, announced in the 2015 Budget, was taken with no prior consultation and has caused great disruption and uncertainty across the entire arts community, said Mr Dreyfus. A Senate Inquiry into the new fund launched by Labor has heard from thousands of artists and arts organisations across the country, almost all opposed to Senator Brandis's vanity project.
If Senator Fifield is serious about cleaning up the mess that the Government made of arts policy so far, he must act immediately to abandon Senator Brandis's slush fund.
MONDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2015
