Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bilyk, for your question. It is a matter of public and budget records that there was a proposition for the National Program for Excellence in the Arts, which was intended to open a new avenue of funding for organisations that might not, in the ordinary course of events, be eligible for programs under the Australia Council. When I came into the portfolio we further focused that into a program called Catalyst, which had the same objective. At that time there was some funding returned to the Australia Council. I always said that I was prepared to consult and to listen to the sector, as is good practice as a minister. I did that, and announced at the weekend that there was a further rebalancing of funding to the Australia Council.

There will continue to be an avenue for which organisations that are not eligible for Australia Council funding can make application, and I have announced that there will be $2 million a year that will enable that to be the case. I am going to be talking to my colleagues and talking to the arts sector about how to best to deploy that $2 million a year. It is important that I point out that within my department we have the Regional Arts Fund, which is a very important program, and we also have significant funding for Indigenous language and culture. We really have three pillars in Australia: we have the Australia Council, we have our great national collecting institutions and we have a range of programs within my portfolio, auspiced by my department, which, importantly, also includes Creative Partnerships Australia.