It doesn’t get any worse than this!

I have written about Arts Ministers previously – click here. This country desperately needs a new model of national Culture Minster. Instead we have been landed with one of the most unsuitable politician to be the Arts Minister.

A couple of decades ago, I heard stories about the then Arts Minister fighting with his bureaucracy over his wish to allocate grants to his favoured electorate. He had just been appointed and had issued his wish list for where any grants were to go. He just could not understand the concept behind arms length funding as legislated to be the methodology by which grants were decided by the Australia Council for the Arts.

I would imagine that many of our National Arts Ministers would have loved to interfered in the decisions for the grants but alas they were all kept in their box. Till now. The current Minister has ripped out some money from the funding that goes to the Australia Council so that he can have his own grant schemes. We look forward with horror as to the outcomes of this mean way of running the arts portfolio.

The story was reported well last week – so here’s a few of them.

One from the Guardian – click here. Which covers the issues well as it also talks about the fear that this will generate in the arts community.

Another in Crikey – click here (may be a pay walled article)

From The Conversation – click here – and – click here

and from The Drum – click here

The country is in trouble with such people in government!

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Paul Costigan